
THE BOY’S' 
WORKSHOP 


































































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PRESENTED HY 















The Modern Boys Library 


The Boy’s Workshop 








































THE MODERN BOY’S LIBRARY 


SOMETHING TO MAKE 
THE OUTDOOR BOY 
THE BOY’S WORKSHOP 
HOBBIES 


Edited by Eric Wood 











The Boy’s Workshop 


Edited by 

Eric Wood 

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With Many Illustrations and 
Working Diagrams 


New York 

Funk and Wagnalls Company 


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Printed iti Great Britain 

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EDITOR’S NOTE 


'TMIE Modern Boy’s Library has been designed 
A to include volumes on every subject in which 
the boy of to-day is interested—which means that 
eventually there will be but few subjects not dealt 
with ! For the modern boy is keen to know about 
everything that happens ; anxious to try his hand 
at the making of things ; the joy of creation is 
behind all his dreams. 

Each of the books in the Library has been written 
by men—there are nearly as many contributors as 
there are chapters !—who are experts in their own 
spheres ; and, while every endeavour has been made 
to reduce even the most intricate subjects to sim¬ 
plicity, it must be remembered that some subjects 
are not to be treated in the style suited to the men¬ 
tality of the kindergarten ; and, after all, these books 
are not intended for the kindergarten. Moreover, 
it is worth remembering that the value of books lies 
in their knowledge-giving quality. We do not read 
books merely because they are there to read ; we 
study them in order to get to know something of 
which we were ignorant before. There are many 
things in the volumes of this Library that the average 
boy does not know ; they are here for his instruction, 
in language as simple as is possible consistent with 
accuracy. 

To give something for the boy to do, to know, 
to enjoy—that has been the threefold object behind 
the compilation of these books. 


v 










Contents 


Section I.—THE CARPENTER’S SHOP PAOE 

1. Tools and Material ..... 9 

2. The Boy Carpenter about the House . 32 

3. Wood-turning ...... 39 

4. WOOD-CARYING ...... 46 

5. How to Make a Mechanical Money Box . 52 

6. Fretwork ....... 55 

7. Rustic Carpentry ..... 59 

8. Painting and Polishing .... 62 

9. Making a Hall Table ..... 67 

10. Home-made Gifts . . . . .71 

11. How to Make a Simple Medicine Chest . 73 

Section II.—THE METALWORKER 

1. WlREWORK ....... 75 

2. Springs ....... 78 

3. Chain and Ring Work .... 80 

4. Bent Iron Work ..... 82 

5. Metal Fretwork ...... 85 

6. Sheet-metal Work ..... 89 

7. Repousse Work . . . . .94 

8. Stencil Cutting in Metal .... 99 

9. Finishing Metalwork . . . .101 

Section III.—THE STUDIO 

1. Drawing and Painting .... 103 

2. How to Make a Pantagraph . . .121 

3. Simple Papier MIche Work . . . .123 

4. Coloured Paper Transparencies . . .125 

5. How to Make Cardboard Stencils . .128 

6. Simple Etching on Metal . . . .129 

7. Plaster Casts ...... 131 

8. A Simple Drawing Apparatus . . . 134 

• • 

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Vlll 


Contents 


Section IV.—THE ENGINEERING SHOP PAGE 


1. Work with the File ..... 135 

2. Nuts and Bolts ...... 138 

3. Riveting . . . . . . .141 

4. Soldering and Brazing .... 144 

5. Drilling and Boring . . . . .149 

G. The Metal-turning Lathe .... 153 


Section V.—THE LABORATORY 


1. How to Start a Laboratory . . .167 

2. First Principles of Chemistry . . .173 

3. Some Scientific Experiments . . .187 

4. Capturing Ice Flowers . . . .196 

5. Glass Blowing . . . . . .197 

6. Water Chemistry ..... 208 

7. How to Etch on Glass . . . .212 


Section VI.—THE ELECTRICIAN’S SHOP 

The Principles of Electricity . . .215 


Section VII.—MISCELLANEOUS 

1. How to Make a Tennis Racket Press 

2. Two Pocket-lighters 

3. A Cheap and Useful Pocket Compass 

4. Making a Coloured Shadow 

5. Making a Tool-shed and Shelter 

6. Kite Making and Kite Flying . 

7. The Model Sand-mill . 

8. Coin Trays and Boxes 

9. Fitting up a Natural History Museum 

10. Miniature Fireworks .... 

11. How to Fill a Hydrogen Balloon 

12. Useful Hints ..... 

13. Silver Bottles .... 


233 

235 

238 

241 

244 

249 

259 

264 

265 

278 

279 
282 
287 













The Boys Workshop 


Section I.—THE CARPENTER'S SHOP 

TOOLS AND MATERIAL 

I N woodwork the tilings to be learned are the 
nature of the material, the way to use the 
tools, and how to design and construct. The material 
may seem a thing of little importance. Everyone 
knows what wood is like. They do in a more or 
less superficial way, but a great deal more is learned 
by those experienced in using it. There are cases 
where a single piece of wood without joints can be 
used, others where joints are few and simple, and 
others where there are complicated joints. It is 
necessary to understand the reasons for this, and 
to be able to decide where and how to join. The 
character of the material is the main cause of the 
differences in construction and in jointing. As 
the shapes and purposes of wooden articles vary 
so must the methods of making them. The wood¬ 
worker must not only be skilled in the use of tools, 
but experience and judgment are wanted in dealing 
with wood. 

WOOD 

A beginner soon becomes aware that wood has 
grain or fibre which can be snapped or broken cross¬ 
wise, leaving jagged edges, as in Fig. 1, or can be 


10 


The Boy’s Workshop 



Fig. 3 Fig. 6 


split lengthwise, leaving a quite different kind of 
break which follows the grain, as in Fig. 2. Further 
experience tells him that wood shrinks and swells 
as it loses or absorbs moisture, and also that it 
curves and warps. In working with wood these 
things have to be taken account of, and shrinking 
and swelling and warping prevented as far as possible. 
Things must be constructed so that the grain of 
one piece crosses that of another. Parts that are 
long and narrow must have the grain running in 
the long direction. Parts that are wide must be 
kept from warping and splitting, for splitting may 
occur simply as the result of shrinkage. It will 
happen if the piece is secured so that it is easier 
for its fibres to separate than for its total width to 
be reduced. Fig. 3 shows a bad piece of board. 
It has a number of knots, its grain is not straight, 
and it has some shakes or cracks. Knots are hard 
places, frequent in pine and spruce, which interfere 
with the course of the grain, are troublesome to 
work, and weaken the piece and make it more easy 
to snap if its cross section is narrow, 































The Carpenter’s Shop n 

There are a great many varieties of wood. In 
carpentry and joinery, house building and rough 
outdoor work, deal or pine is used. It can be obtained 
in large sizes and is the cheapest kind of wood. 
Hard and fancy woods, such as oak, mahogany, 
walnut, birch, ash, elm, teak, are mostly heavy, 
hard and suitable for special purposes rather than 
for general work. 


TOOLS 

The ordinary woodworking tools are known to 
most people. First there is the saw. The handsaw 
(Fig. 4) is the most useful for general work. The 
tenon saw (Fig. 5), has a thin blade and small teeth 
with a thick heavy back which stiffens the blade. 
This of course prevents the blade from going com¬ 
pletely through a cut as the handsaw does, but the 



Fig. 9 




Fig. 11 . Fig. 12 






























12 The Boy’s Workshop 

tenon saw is used for small work. The keyhole or 
pad saw (Fig. 6) is useful for entering holes and 
following curves. Saws are sharpened by filing 
the teeth, but this should not be attempted by anyone 
without experience. Care should be taken not to 
saw near nails in wood, for even a light stroke against 
a nail dulls the points of the teeth instantly. The 
teeth are shaped so that the cutting is done during 
the forward thrust of the saw. Wood to be sawn 
is held in any position which happens to be convenient 
—large pieces on sawstools or chairs or similar support. 
Sometimes it is easier to hold pieces of moderate 
size upright in the vice. Small pieces are laid flat 
on the bench and generally held with the left hand, 
while a stop or other fixture in front keeps the saw 
from pushing the wood forward. Both hands, or 
the right hand only, are used to work the saw. 
Unless the wood is fixed quite securely the left hand 
is generally used to steady it. 

Chisels and planes have cutting edges as in Fig. 7, 
one face of the tool being flat and all the angle on 
the other. A plane cutter operates in the position 
shown in Fig. 8. A chisel can be used in that posi¬ 
tion also, but more generally it is used in one of the 
positions shown in Figs. 9 and 10. Occasionally it 
is driven by a wooden mallet, but as a rule it is best 
to pare with it by hand pressure only. Light paring 
can be done with the wood held in the left hand, 
and the chisel used as in sharpening a pencil. If 
the wood cannot move both hands may be used to 
operate the chisel, but very frequently the left hand 
is used to hold or steady the work. If a chisel is 
kept sharp it cuts easily without the use of much 






The Carpenter’s Shop 13 

force. Thick shavings or chips require more power 
than thin ones and work is done usually by removing 
a series of thin chips until sufficient reduction has 
been made. 

Gouges are curved in cross section. Some are 
ground and sharpened on the outside and some 
inside the curve. The first must be tilted for use, 
like the plane cutters and chisel in Fig. 8. The second 
must lie flat like the chisels in Figs. 9 and 10. With 
those ground on the outside it is difficult to cut to 
a uniform depth and thickness of chip, but never¬ 
theless, for ordinary work they are more useful 
than the paring gouge ground on the inside. The 
latter lies flat and easily cuts a fairly straight channel, 
but it must start its cut from an edge of the wood. 
If held in a tilted position, as for making an excava¬ 
tion in a surface, it simply digs in but cannot move 
forward and cut a shaving as the outside or firmer 
gouge does. Gouges are of different curves and 
widths. Chisels are of different widths, but, unless 
required narrow for entering recesses, the width in 
commonest use for paring is lj in. 

For most woodwork a bench is desirable, but a 
great deal can be done on a kitchen table. Large 
and rough constructions may not require either. A 
bench differs from a table in having a vice for holding 
wood in, and a stop for planing against. Besides 
this it is designed to withstand the push of the 
plane, which would often strain the joints of a table. 

There is more to learn and more skill required 
in the use of planes than any other woodworking 
tool. Planes are used to make surfaces true and 
smooth and to reduce slightly Svhen small amounts 






14 The Boy’s Workshop 

have to be removed from surfaces too large to be 
chiselled. A plane also has an advantage over a 
chisel in having its cutter guided and fixed for depth 
of cut by the sole of the plane. A saw leaves a com¬ 
paratively rough surface and a plane or chisel is 
used after to make it smooth and to work more exactly 
to size than is possible with a saw. Rough out¬ 
door work is not planed, but most other work is. 
Wood can be bought already planed, but in sawing 
it up and fitting together there is necessarily some 
amount of further planing. 

The planes used depend to some extent on the 
class of work done. The jack plane is of rather 
large size, used for roughing down and nearly always 
followed by some other plane for finishing. Its 
cutting edge is ground to a slight curve, so that it 
cuts a shaving which is thick in the middle of its 
width and thin at the edges. All planes used on 
broad surfaces have to cut in this way or the corners 
of the cutter would dig in and leave a ridge at each 
side. The trying plane is longer and wider than 
the jack, and is used for making surfaces true and 
reducing the waves left by the deep-cutting jack 
plane. The smoothing plane is short, and is used 
where truth is of little importance. There is also 
a great variety of smaller metal-body planes used 
for small work. Besides these there are planes for 
special purposes, such as the planing of grooves, 
hollows, rounds, and mouldings. Very few wood¬ 
workers require all these planes. 

The planing of flat surfaces is done sometimes 
merely to smooth them, but more often they have 
to be made true as well. Before planing large 





The Carpenter’s Shop 


15 



Fig. 13 


surfaces are seldom quite true 
because of the liability of wood 
to warp. The surface may be 
concave or convex, or 
there may be a combina¬ 
tion of these. If the 
surface is tested with a 
straightedge diagonally 
from corner to corner, it is often found to be concave 
one way and convex the other. That is, the surface 
is twisted or winding. A slight amount of this is 
the rule rather than the exception. To make it 
true the two high corners must be reduced, and as 
little as possible removed from the others. Where 
there is concavity almost nothing is removed from 
the middle, but an increasing amount as the plane 
gets toward the edges. With convexity the high 
part in the middle is reduced. Very thin wood easily 
bends and gives under the pressure of the plane, and 
if it is much curved it is no use trying to plane it 
true, as it would reduce the thickness too much. 
It must be kept true by force when it is secured in 
the place where it has to go. 

In planing, and in chiselling also, the cutter 
must not be used in the direction known as “ against 
the grain,” that is, with the grain running at an 
angle to the surface, 
as in Fig. 11; a chisel 
used in the direction 
shown would not cut 
a proper shaving but 
would split a wedge- 
shaped piece off, the Fig. 14 

















16 The Boy’s Workshop 



Fig. 15 Fig. lb Fig. 17 Fig. 18 


split following the grain. With a plane this could not 
happen because the cutter could not dig in sufficiently, 
but there would be a series of short breaks, leaving 
a rough torn-up surface. The wood should be 
reversed so that the tool cuts it the opposite way. 

Chisels, and sometimes planes, have to be used 
on end grain and here there is risk of splitting the 
far edge, as in Fig. 12. In using a plane the corner 
of the wood is either slightly bevelled first with a 
chisel, so that the plane ceases to cut before it gets 
close to the edge, or the plane is stopped and re¬ 
versed continually, so that it starts cutting at 
edges but never finishes at them. With a chisel 
the usual way is either to lay the work on a cutting 
board and pare downwards vertically, as already shown 
in Fig. 10, or if the cut is horizontal hold a block of 
wood tight against the far side, so that the chisel stops 
its cut at this and the block prevents fibres from 
splitting aw r ay. 

GRINDING AND SHARPENING 

Cutting tools soon become dull and require 
sharpening, dhis is done on what is called a hone 
or oilstone. These are obtainable in different grades 
















The Carpenter’s Shop 17 

—some slow-cutting, but producing a very fine 
edge, others coarse and quick. A stone of medium 
or rather fine grade is best for most woodworking 
tools. A little oil is put on its surface and the tool 
is rubbed backwards and forwards on it at an angle 
which gradually wears away the steel near the cutting 
edge and makes the latter keen again. Chisels and 
similar tools which are flat on one face must lie 
absolutely flat on the hone when that face is being 




rubbed. The tilt will be entirely on the other side 
and most of the rubbing is required there also, the 
flat face being merely rubbed lightly for a moment 
or two to remove burr. The two positions for a chisel 
are shown in Figs. 13 and 14. In Fig. 13 the chisel 
is held in a tilted position. Its angle must be high 
enough for most of the ground face to be clear of 
the stone, for the work of producing a keen edge 
would be extremely slow if a face of steel perhaps 
i in. in width had to be rubbed down. This is the 
reason why tools are ground to a more acute angle 
than they are sharpened at. The angle becomes more 
and more obtuse as they are worn back, and eventually 
re-grinding is necessary. 





















i8 


The Boy’s Workshop 



Grinding removes the steel quickly but gives 
too rough an edge for cutting wood. The exact 
angle at which grinding and sharpening is done is 
not very important. A workman uses his judgment, 
just as one does in sharpening a pencil. Hard wood 
and driving with a mallet requires a more obtuse 
angle than soft wood and light paring. The tilt in 
sharpening should be the least possible more than 
the grinding angle, and the tool should be held 
constantly at that angle during sharpening. If raised 
higher for one or two strokes the thin edge will 
easily take a new angle and then there is a lot of 
trouble and time in getting back to the old one again. 
Sharpening has to be done frequently when tools 
are in constant use, and it is essential for a wood¬ 
worker to have the means of sharpening. Grinding 
only becomes necessary at comparatively long in¬ 
tervals, but it is a very great advantage to have 
the means of grinding also. Grinding is done by 
holding the tool on a revolving wheel, either emery 
or a grindstone. In large workshops such wheels 
are driven by powder, but otherwise they have to 
be turned by hand or by a foot pedal. For an amateur 
there is nothing better than the small emery wheels 
made to clamp on the edge of a table and turned 
by hand. 














































The Carpenter’s Shop 19 


BORING HOLES 

The smallest boring tool used for wood is the 
bradawl (Fig. 15). It is made in different sizes, 
and is used chiefly for boring nail holes, when there 
is risk of splitting the wood if a nail is driven without 
boring. It is used also for small screw holes, and 
large bradawls are often used for turning very small 
screws. Bradawls are simply pressed into the wood 
with a slight turning movement in alternate direc¬ 
tions. The gimlet (Fig. 16), also made in different 
sizes, is larger than the bradawl, and used for boring 
screw holes. It has a tapering thread on its point 
which helps to draw it into the wood without re¬ 
quiring much pressure. The gimlet, however, is 
only used when it is not convenient to bore with 
a brace and bit. For all holes larger than bradawl 
size, bits revolved by a brace are nearly always used. 
The shell bit (Fig. 17) is the usual pattern for boring 
screw holes. The square tapered shank fits into 


















































20 The Boy’s Workshop 

the brace so that both turn together. All the other 
bits of a set, no matter what their shape or size, 
have similar square shanks which fit the same brace. 
Large holes often have to be bored in wood, some¬ 
times of a definite diameter, and for these the auger 
bit (Fig. 18 ) is used. This has a central point 
which is pressed into the wood exactly where the 
centre of the hole has to be. There are other kinds 
of bit, used in the same brace, for reaming, counter¬ 
sinking, turning screws, etc. The augur bits cut 
when turning in the direction of the hands of a 
clock, and so do gimlets. Shell bits cut either 
way. 

A hatchet is useful, and two hammers, one light 
and the other heavy. Also pincers for drawing 
nails. A large and small screw-driver are wanted. 
If accurate w r ork is to be done a marking gauge is 
necessary, and two pairs of dividers or compasses, 
one large and the other small. A large and a small 
try-square are wanted for testing the squareness of 
angle when planing and putting work together. 
A spokeshave is used for following curves, which a 
plane with a long flat sole could not do. A punch 
is used when the heads of nails have to be driven 
below the surface. A rule, of course, is wanted for 
measuring. An oilstone slip, or small piece of oil¬ 
stone, is used in sharpening gouges and some 
other tools. The tool is generally held in a fixed 
position, and the slip rubbed on it. Oil is used 
with this the same as with an oilstone. The oil 
takes up the small particles of abraded grit and 
steel and keeps them from clogging and spoiling 
the stone. 





The Carpenter’s Shop 21 


JOINTS 

The simplest forms of joints are merely flat 
surfaces fitting against each other and held by 
nails, screws, or glue. A person without experience 
at mechanical work might think it simpler and 
better not to have joints at all if wood could be 
found large enough to cut an article from a single 
solid piece. A square frame, as in Fig. 19, or a circular 
one, as in Fig. 20, if not too large, might seem much 
easier to cut from a solid piece than to build up 
with joints, and many people would suppose it 
stronger without joints. But if made of wood 
joints are necessary in both of these cases for strength. 
Cut from a solid piece of board the short grain in 
one direction would be very weak, and besides this 
the frames would warp. If built up both of these 
weak features disappear. The square frame would 
consist of four pieces jointed at the corners. There 
are a number of ways in which the joints might 
be made, and the method adopted would depend 
on circumstances. The circular frame would be 
built up in layers of curved segments, with over¬ 
lapping joints. This takes a little longer, but is 
not really very troublesome to a skilled man, and 
after all the ultimate result is the important thing, 
regardless of the time and trouble taken. 

The form of joint used in any particular case 
depends partly on the proportion of the parts to 
be joined, partly on the class of work. Thus, in 
a frame with corners joined at right angles, as in 
Fig. 19, a plain lap or butt joint as in Fig. 21 would 
be rough and weak even if held by long nails. With- 





22 The Boy’s Workshop 

out the parts actually separating, there would be 
some risk of their being forced out of exact position, 
so that the faces would not be perfectly flush or the 
parts not exactly at right angles. A rebate, as in 
Fig. 22, would be an improvement, because it would 
keep the shorter piece from being knocked inwards. 
The nails alone would not do this. But generally 
such a joint would be mortised and tenoned, as in 
Fig. 23, or half-lapped, as in Fig. 24. Another good 
way when the parts are thick is to fit them with a 
single dovetail, as in Fig. 25. The joint in Fig. 24 
is generally held by screws as shown, for unless the 
parts are very thick nails would hardly be secure 
enough. Nails are quite suitable in Figs. 21 and 22, 
because they go into end grain and if long enough 
are equal to screws. In Figs. 23 and 25 glue alone 
might be used for indoor work, but for anything 
exposed to the weather glue is almost useless, because 
dampness softens and causes it to lose its hold. 

When we have to deal with parts which are 
proportioned differently to the foregoing we have to 
joint them differently. A long joint with the grain 
running as in Fig. 26 would often be simply nailed 
as shown, or screwed. In some cases it would be 
rebated and nailed, as in Fig. 27. It could not be 
tenoned or dovetailed, the grain would be too 
weak. But if the grain ran as in Fig. 28 it could 
be dovetailed, as shown, though the methods in 
Figs. 26 and 27 would still be quite suitable for it. 
A tenoned joint would be quite unsuitable in all 
these cases. 

If we get thin wide pieces joined in the direction 
shown in Figs. 29 and 30, the joints shown in Figs. 





The Carpenter’s Shop 23 

23 and 25 become impracticable, and those in Figs. 
21 and 22 are useless unless the parts are secured 
against some other part of the structure so that 
they are kept together independently of their own 
narrow edge joints. So that we have practically 
no choice but to make a plain crossing or overlapping 
joint, as in Fig. 29, which is often objectionable 
because the two pieces are not in the same plane, 
or a half-lap joint, as in Fig. 30, where half the thick¬ 
ness of each piece is cut away. 

The joints illustrated are a few of those in or¬ 
dinary use. There are plenty of others, and also 
slight modifications of those shown. What happens 
to be suitable in one case may not be so in another, 
although a person without experience might not see 
much difference. 

Accurate fitting is necessary in making joints, 
otherwise they do not hold so well and they look 
bad. In some cases the truth of the structure 
depends on accurate joints. If, for instance, two 
pieces have to be nailed or screwed together at right 
angles, as in Fig. 31, the top edge of the vertical 
piece would be tested with a square before nailing 
the other piece on it. If it happened to be very 
slightly out of square it would cause the other piece 
to slope in the same direction. The slope would be 
only a trifle on the width of the edge, but it would 
throw the attached piece seriously out of square, 
as indicated by the dotted line. With the parts 
nailed or screwed tightly together it would be impossible 
for them to be at right angles. They could be forced 
to a position at right angles, but at the cost of a bad 
and weak joint. 





24 The Boy’s Workshop 


DIAGONAL BRACING 

Parts joined as in Fig. 31 seldom have to depend 
on the joint to keep them at right angles, but never¬ 
theless good joints are one of the essentials of good 
work. Where there is comparatively slender frame¬ 
work, with joints which are necessarily of small area, 
the frame must be kept rigid either by diagonal 
braces or by stiffening the frame by boarding over 
its surfaces. In large structures there is always 
diagonal bracing whether surfaces are boarded or 
not. A diagonal brace is shown in Fig. 32, as applied 
to two pieces at right angles. There are different 
ways of fitting such a brace. Sometimes it would 
take the form of an internal bracket. Sometimes 
it would simply be nailed or screwed on as shown. 
Sometimes half-lapped or tenoned in. To give the 
maximum rigidity it should reach nearly to the 
extremities of the other parts, provided this does 
not make it too long, with consequent flexibility 
and weakness. This, of course, might be avoided 
by increasing its cross section, but diagonals are 
never made of larger cross section than the principals 
and usually are less. A square frame needs bracing 
in both directions, so that two braces crossing each 
other in the middle are wanted. This strengthens 
the braces and is equivalent to reducing their length. 

If a frame is extremely large two diagonals are 
not enough. Instead of two very long ones the 
frame is subdivided into smaller squares, each of 
which is braced separately. That is, additional 
members at right angles are fitted into the frame, 
and diagonal braces fitted to these. But it is only 





The Carpenter’s Shop 25 

in large work that 
is necessary. In 
work it is suffi- 
parts with grain 
and to proportion 
the article is 
its purpose with- 
unnecessary amount of material in it. In many 
cases broad pieces of board covering a frame are 
not only a necessary part of the structure, but 
serve the same purpose as diagonal bracing. A 
common example is shown in Fig. 33. 

An ordinary box consists of a framework of two 
sides and two ends, nailed together as shown, the 
ends fitting between the sides. Until the bottom is 
nailed on this framework is in a rickety condition, 
easily forced out of square. The bottom acts as 
a brace and keeps the corners rigid. Before fixing 
the bottom it must be seen that the frame is square, 
for with the bottom on untruth in this respect 
cannot be rectified without taking the bottom off 
again. The same precaution should be taken in 
attaching diagonal braces. Both have the same 
effect on a framework with narrow joints. An 
advantage of bracing is that it gives equal strength 
with less material. The effect of boarding is 
the same, no matter whether a small single 


T“ 

1 


1 

I 

t 

^ EDGE NOT 


P 

1 

PLANED SQUARE 



Fig. 31 







diagonal bracing 
small and medium 
cient to unite the 
at right angles 
the parts so that 
strong enough for 
out having an 


























26 The Boy’s Workshop 

piece does, as in Fig. 33, or a number of boards 
have to be fitted edge to edge to cover the 
surface. 

MARKING OUT AND MAKING JOINTS 

The woodworker has to spend a considerable 
portion of his time in marking out. He must have 
lines to cut to. A surface may be planed true 
without lines as a guide, and edges may be planed 
at right angles to it by testing with a square. But 
beyond this very little can be done without lines 
to work to, no matter whether for sawing, planing, or 
cutting with chisels or other tools. Practically 
nothing is done by freehand, but all marking out 
is geometrical. Lines are usually cut in the surface 
with a pointed knife or scriber or the cutter of a 
gauge, or points of steel compasses or similar in¬ 
struments when lines are curved. This is preferred 
to pencil because such lines can be worked to more 
exactly. With pencil one may leave the line show¬ 
ing or obliterate it, and a pencil line has an appre¬ 
ciable width. A cut line has not and it is easy 
to follow the cut line. A saw may be used well 
to one side of it and a chisel or plane afterwards 
to cut exactly to it. 

When there is a considerable amount of end grain 
to be cut away a saw is generally used first, in most 
cases a tenon saw. Side grain can easily be chiselled 
or gouged away, or sometimes split away and finished 
with a chisel or with a plane if circumstances permit. 
In cutting tenons and half-laps a tenon saw is used 
first across the grain, sawing to the depth, but 





The Carpenter’s Shop 27 


leaving the shoulder lines showing, as in Fig. 34, 
then the faces are chiselled away, or sawn if the 
parts are large. A rebate plane is used to finish 
the faces, or in very small work it may be all done 
with a chisel. Mortises cannot be sawn, but are 
bored first, and finished with a stout chisel the same 
width as the mortise. 

Only one tenon has been illustrated, but it should 
be said there is another kind which is shouldered 
in the same way, but is short and fits into a recess 
or shallow mortise instead of going right through 



Fig. 34 


Fig. 33 


to the other side. The purpose of this is not so 
much to hold the parts together as to prevent side 
movement in relation to each other. 

A through tenon which has to be glued is secured 
with wedges (Fig. 35), which must be allowed for 
in cutting the mortise. When all are glued together 
the wedge not only makes a tight joint but makes 
it impossible for the parts to separate. In thickness 
a tenon is one-third the thickness of the wood. 
In width it will be seen the tenon must be less, 
otherwise the mortise would be an open slot cutting 
through the end of the wood, which would not hold 
so well as a completely enclosed tenon. But when 
a member is tenoned into an intermediate part at 
































28 The Boy’s Workshop 

some distance from the end the tenon and mortise 
are the full width. 

Dovetails are often employed for box corners 
and other carcase work. Some practice is required 
to fit them well. Generally only the end grain at 
the roots is chiselled, and the angles are put together 
as sawn, a specially fine saw being used. The length 
of dovetail corresponds with the thickness of the 
wood. A gauge is set to this and lines gauged on 
both faces of all pieces. Then on the longer or over¬ 
lapping pieces the dovetails are marked, not neces¬ 
sarily by measurement, and cut, and the corresponding 
part on the other piece is marked direct from this. 
Fig. 36 shows what is called a lap dovetail, often 
employed for drawer fronts. The dovetails show 
only at the side and the front is plain. Dovetail 
joints are held by glue only. Practice is necessary 
before neat and accurate work can be done in dove¬ 
tails and in all other joints and in woodwork generally. 
Sharp tools are wanted, careful marking out and 
measuring and cutting, and patience to do things 
properly rather than quickly. 

SCREWING, NAILING, AND GLUING 

These are the three chief methods of uniting 
pieces of wood. In very large and heavy work 
bolts are often used. In some cases metal fittings 
held by screws unite the parts. Screws are used 
when a secure hold is wanted, and when the work 
may have to be taken apart again. Nails hold equally 
well if there is plenty of depth to drive them into. 
If there is not the points can be allowed to come 





The Carpenter’s Shop 29 

through and be bent over and clinched, but this is 
rough work and only suitable in a few cases. The 
way in which a screw holds is shown in Fig. 37. 
It keeps the parts together by its enlarged head at 
one end, and its thread at the other. The hole for 
it is bored entirely through the upper piece, before 
the parts are placed in position. After placing in 
position a smaller hole may be continued a little 
way into the lower piece. In soft wood a small 
screw can be inserted without boring the lower 
part, but a hole through the first part is always desir¬ 



able. If it is not bored the screw splinters the wood 
in the joint, and this may prevent the parts from 
coming so closely into contact as they otherwise 
would. The screw should be quite an easy fit in 
the upper piece, for if the smooth upper part of the 
screw is a very tight fit it will sometimes, in the case 
of a large screw, make it difficult to draw the parts 
together. Or it may give trouble in some cases in 
causing wood and screw to turn together. A screw 
is turned in the direction of the hands of a clock to 
put it in and the reverse way for withdrawal. 

Holes are seldom bored for nails unless the grain 
is short and there is risk of splitting. Sometimes 
they are bored to assist in guiding the nail straight. 
















































30 


The Boy’s Workshop 


In hard wood it may be necessary to bore when fine 
nails are used because they are too slender to force 
their way without bending. This is a different thing 
to the bending which occurs through unskilful 
hammering. Nails are often punched below the 
surface, and the holes filled with stopping of some 
kind. To do this the end of a punch is held on the 
nail head and the top of the punch hammered instead 
of hammering on the nail direct. 

Glue should be used hot and of suitable consistency 
to suit the work—thin for large surfaces and thick 
for small ones. Parts must fit each other as per¬ 
fectly as possible, and be kept pressed together in 
some way for a few hours after gluing. Sometimes 
clamps are used ; sometimes staples or dogs ; some¬ 
times a weight can be put on top ; sometimes parts 
can be bound with string, or nails or screws put in 
immediately. The latter method is not suitable in 
all cases as it is liable to break the hold of the glue. 
In screwed work the screws are generally not put in 
till some hours after. In glued joints there should 
be no appreciable thickness of glue between the wood 
surfaces, for glue will break more easily than wood 
saturated with glue and in contact. In a plain 

flat joint it is usual to squeeze 
out as much glue as possible 
by a rubbing action as well as 
pressure. Glue does not hold 
w r ell on end grain. In cases 
where it is used there the end 
grain should have a coat of 
glue previously, which is allowed 
Fig. 37 to soak in and dry, and so 


/ s/ /[ 

s * > 

»• * 

















The Carpenter’s Shop 31 

close the pores and prevent the final coat of glue 
from sinking in. Glue is applied with a brush on 
both the surfaces to be united and they are brought 
into contact as quickly as possible. For some small 
work a thin strip of wood or a chip is often better 
than a brush for applying glue. 






THE BOY CARPENTER ABOUT THE 

HOUSE 


T HERE is always work about the house that 
can be done by anyone who has the tools 
and knows how to do it. Sometimes it is repair 
work; sometimes alterations, improvements, or 
additions. 

GLUING BROKEN PARTS 

Furniture may get broken and need repairing. 
For this glue is generally used, with screws or nails 
as well when strength is necessary. When glue is 
wanted it is best to consider what other things can 
be glued at the same time, so that when the glue 
is ready they can all be done. Glue is heated in 
a double pot, the outer one containing water only. 
The glue is broken in small pieces and put in a small 
quantity of water in the inner pot and should pre¬ 
ferably be allowed to soak there cold for a few hours 
to soften. If heated without previous soaking it 
remains in a partial and unequally melted state 
for a long time. Clean water should be used, and 
no grease of any kind should be allowed to get into 
the glue or on the work, for this prevents glue from 
holding. 

Parts which require gluing may be those which 
were originally glued but have come apart, or they 
may be broken in a place where there was originally 
no joint. In the latter case the break is often a 
sloping one as in Fig. 38. A way of clamping it 

32 


The Carpenter’s Shop 33 

while the glue is setting is shown in Fig. 39, but 
the method adopted always depends on circumstances. 
The block above and the wood surface below may 
be slightly greased to prevent adhesion. A hand- 
screw (Fig. 40) is often used for squeezing glue 
joints. On a large joint several handscrews may 
be used. The handscrew is set to the right width 
by turning the screws opposite ways, and is finally 
tightened by the back one, which forces the jaws 
apart at the back, and by leverage causes them 
to pinch tightly at the front. 

Wood that has been split or broken can be glued 
if the broken surfaces are clean and fit each other. 
In gluing they should be adjusted exactly as they 
were before the break. If a piece broken off has 
been lost then the broken surface on the other must 
be planed or pared flat before fitting a new piece. 
In some cases, instead of a plain flat joint, a new 
part may be dovetailed or otherwise fitted. But 
always if possible broken off parts should be kept 
until they can be glued on again. The fitting of a 
new piece not only gives trouble in making the joint 
but the new piece always looks new and cannot be 
given quite the same appearance as the old. 


PUTTING UP SHELVES 

Shelves against walls are often desirable, and 
it is important that they should be secure. In 
most houses there are recesses into which shelves 
can be fitted as in Fig. 41. The ends of the shelf 
rest on blocks of wood nailed to the wall. It is 
usually easy to nail such blocks securely, and the 
c 








34 The Boy's Workshop 



shelf may be placed on top without necessarily 
being fastened. The blocks should be horizontal, 
and at equal height, so that the shelf will be level 
and will not rock. If there is a trace of the latter 
one or both of the blocks should be tapped down 
with a hammer at the part which is too high. Walls 
are generally of brick, and wire nails can be driven 
into joints, or even into brick, and will hold well. 
If the wood blocks are, say, 1 in. thick, the nails 
should be about 3 in. long. 

When there is only plain wall, with no recess, 
wood blocks cannot be used, for the shelf must be 
supported nearly or quite out to its front edge. In 
such a case metal brackets have to be used, as in 
Fig. 42. These are not so easy to attach as wood 
blocks. The proper way to hold brackets is with 

















































































The Carpenter’s Shop 35 

screws, and when screws are used it is necessary 
to have wood to put them into. If the wall is of 
wood it is easy to screw the brackets on at any place 
where they are wanted, but if it is of brick or other 
material holes must be drilled and wood plugs 
driven in to receive the screws. Where a shelf 
starts in the corner of a room and goes along a plain 
wall a wood block may be used at the corner and 
a bracket near the other end, so making a combina¬ 
tion of the two methods just mentioned. Occa¬ 
sionally walls are of lath and plaster on a wood 
framework and this is difficult to deal with. The 
wood principals are not easy to find, and may not 
be in suitable positions. If shelves are wanted 
against such a wall it is best not to let them depend 
on the wall for support. Where considerable weight 
has to be supported, and especially when a number 
of shelves one above another are wanted, the best 
way is to make them as in Fig. 43, and let the up¬ 
rights rest on the floor or on some other support 
not depending on the wall. Such shelves are often 
kept in a fixed position against a wall by small sheet 
metal wall plates as shown. These are screwed 
to the back edges of the shelves, and then a screw 
put through from the front into a wood plug in the 
wall. Sometimes small sets of shelves are entirely 
supported by this method without lesting on any 
thing below. 

For putting a wood plug into a brick 01 stone 
wall the hole may be either bored or chipped. For 
boring, a drill of some kind is used, about | in. 
diameter. Bits used for boring wood are quite 
unsuitable, as it would break and spoil their edges. 






36 The Boy’s Workshop 

The hole may be chipped with a chisel specially 
designed for the purpose, or a narrow metal-worker’s 
chisel can be used. The hole should penetrate 2 
or 3 in. and should be parallel, so that the plug 
will drive in tight and hold well. If there is a coat 
of plaster on the brick the latter only should be 
depended on to hold the plug. 

When uprights are used, as in Fig. 43, the ends 
of the shelves are generally rebated in as shown. 
Sometimes it is convenient to screw supporting 
blocks to the uprights, the same as the blocks in 
Fig. 41. Sometimes the edges of the rebates are 
undercut to make a vee groove or dovetail joint. 
There are numerous other ways, but simply screwing 
or nailing the uprights to the shelf ends with plain 
joints is bad work, and very unusual. Weight on 
the shelf makes it liable to split out at the ends 
and sink, leaving screws or nails behind. With 
the ends fitting in grooves this cannot occur. 



Fig. 46 


Fig. 48 

























The Carpenter’s Shop 3 7 


CLOTHES HOOKS 

Hooks for hanging clothes on are often useful 
011 walls. These should always be screwed on. 
Generally they are screwed to doors or other wood¬ 
work. Fig. 44 shows a common type of hook screwed 
to a wood surface. Screws must be selected which 
fit the screw holes in the metal, and there is seldom 
any need to have them more than 1 in. long. For 
attachment to a brick wall the method shown in 
Fig. 45 is best. A number of hooks are screwed 
to a long piece of wood, and this may be nailed 
to the wall. 


TOOL HANDLES 

The handles of tools often become loose and have 
to be tightened, or they break and new ones have 
to be fitted. Some tools, such as the hammer and 
hatchet, have wood handles fitting into the steel 
head. Others, such as chisels, bradawls, and screw¬ 
drivers, have a hole bored endwise into the handle, 
and into this the pointed tang of the tool is driven 

tight. 

Hammer and hatchet heads are kept tight on 
their handles by a wedge. A hammer head, handle 
and wedge, are shown in Fig. 46. The hole through 
the head is not parallel but is smaller in the middle. 
The handle is pared or reduced with a spokeshave 
until it can just be driven through the smallest 
part. The part of the handle immediately behind 
this must taper larger, so that it fits that part of 
the hole and cannot drive farther in. Its extremity 






38 The Boy’s Workshop 

is then spread or enlarged by driving a wedge into 
it. A sawcut is made for the wedge before the 
handle is put into the head. If a wedge-shaped 
opening was cut out of course the wedge w r ould simply 
go in without expanding the end. When the wedge 
is driven in the head cannot move either forward 
or back on the handle. If glue is available it is 
best to glue the wedge in. A hatchet is treated in 
the same way. 

A chisel without a handle is shown in Fig. 47. 
The hole in the handle should not be bored quite 
the length of the tang nor so large in diameter, 
otherwise it would not fit tightly enough when driven 
on. The hole may be bored with a small bit and 
reamed larger to suit the taper of the tang. It is 
important to bore straight, for a tool not in line 
with its handle looks bad. It is best to bore handles 
in the lathe at the time they are turned. The best 
way to drive the handle on is shown in Fig. 48. 
The tool is inserted and the handle held and struck 
on the end without the tool itself being in contact 
with anything. In the case of light tools, such as 
bradawls, it is best to grip them in a vice while the 
handle is driven on. When a handle is loose through 
the hole being too large thin narrow slips of wood 
or cardboard or thick shaving may be put in before 
driving the handle on to the tang. 





WOOD-TURNING 


A LATHE is required for turning. The piece of 
wood to be turned is fixed in the lathe, and 
then it can be revolved while a cutting tool operates 
on it, making it truly circular and of the outline 
required. The lathe may be driven by a treadle or 
by power independently of the workman. The 
cutting tools are held in the hands, but steadied 
and supported on a rest. Without this rest it would 
be impossible to hold the tools against the pressure 
of the revolving work. The lathe should be at a 
convenient height for working at when the turner 
is standing. Designs vary, but Fig. 49 shows the 
arrangement of the parts above the bed. At the 
left-hand end the headstock is fixed. This is a 
casting with bearings which carry a spindle, or 
mandrel, and a belt pulley. At the right-hand end 
of the bed there is a poppet, or tailstock, which can 
be slid along the bed and clamped at any distance 
required. The poppet has no pulley but only a 
fixed dead centre at the same height as the spindle 
centre of the headstock. Its purpose is to support 
one end of long pieces of wood. The poppet is 
not used in all lathe work. The tool rest is adjustable 


in any position on 
the bed — length¬ 
wise, crosswise for 
height, and for 
angle in the hori¬ 
zontal direction. 


WAD5T0CH 



Fig. 49 


39 


















40 


The Boy’s Workshop 




Fig. 53 


The chief turning 
gouge, Fig. 50. It is 
on the outside, but 
contour than an or- 
It is made in differ- 
being suitable for 
has a long handle 
The side chisel, Fig. 
both sides, similarly 
Usually the edge is 
of slope, so that 
acute than the other. 


V / 


Fig. 

50 


tool used is the 
a stout gouge ground 
to a more pointed 
dinary firmer gouge, 
ent sizes, f in. wide 
average work. It 
to provide leverage. 
51, is ground on 
to a hatchet or knife, 
given some amount 
one corner is more 
Other tools used are 


merely for scraping. First there is an ordinary 
firmer chisel. Next there is a narrow chisel with 
its end ground nearly semicircular instead of straight 
across. This is called a round-nose, and is useful 
in different widths for scraping concave surfaces. 
There are also right- and left-hand chisels, or both 
combined in a diamond-point. These are used for 
scraping straight surfaces which could not be got 
at by an ordinary chisel with its edge at right 
angles to its sides. 

The gouge and side chisel are held as in Fig. 52. 
The scraping tools, instead of sloping up to the work, 


















The Carpenter’s Shop 


4 1 


are held horizontally, flat on the rest with their 
ground faces downwards. The gouge may approach 
the work so that only the middle part ot its edge 
cuts, but more frequently it is turned to one side 
or the other, as in Fig. 53, so that the cut is a diagonal 
or shearing one, and all parts of the edge are used 
until it is dull and wants re-sharpening. 

The two chief uses of the side chisel are shown 
in Figs. 54 and 55. In the first it is used for smooth¬ 
ing a surface which has been reduced nearly to size 
by the gouge. This is possible only on cylindrical 
objects of small diameter. A light cut is taken 
either to right or left, and the chisel is slid along 
slowly. Its upper corner must not be allowed to 
catch. In Fig. 55 it is used for parting and cutting 
ends. Here it rests flat on one edge and is pushed 
straight forward. As it is wedge-shaped it cannot 
be forced far unless the shaving it cuts is thm and 
free to move to one side as the chisel advances. 



Fig. 54 


Fig. 56 


Fig. 57 


























42 The Boy’s Workshop 

Therefore deep incisions have to be made a bit at 
a time to give clearance for the body of the chisel. 

The gouge is sharpened by giving it a rolling 
movement on the hone simultaneously with back¬ 
ward and forward movement. The rolling move¬ 
ment is necessary also in grinding. This is because 
of its rounded back. When a great deal of turning 
is done a hone is often kept specially for the gouge, 
because it soon wears a flat one concave and spoils it 
for flat tools. The special hone is flat in the first 
place but the gouge is allowed to wear grooves in 
it. A slip is used on the inside curve of the gouge 
to remove the rough edge caused by rubbing the other 
side. The slip of course must not be tilted but must 
bear throughout its length in the channel of the 
gouge. The round-nose requires the same rolling 
movement as the gouge, but its flat side can be treated 
the same as other flat tools. 

An article to be turned may be long and slender 
as in Fig. 56, requiring support at both ends, or 
disc-shaped, as in Fig. 57, which does not require 
the use of the poppet. Between these extremes 
come other proportions which are dealt with by the 
method which seems best. In many cases turned 
work is built up. A pedestal as in Fig. 58, for 
instance, might consist of three separately turned 
parts, those of large diameter having the grain a 
different way to that of the long cylindrical piece. 
They would fit together with studs, as in Fig. 59, 
to keep them concentric. 

A piece turned between centres is supported at 
the right-hand end by the dead centre of the poppet. 
This is forced slightly into the end of the wood by 








The Carpenter’s Shop 43 

screwing up the handwheel. At the lieadstock end 
the work has to be driven as well as supported, and 
for this a fork centre is generally used. A fork 
centre, Fig. 60, is one of the attachments which is 
put on or taken off as required. It is either of the 
type shown, which screws into the mandrel nose, or 
is large enough to screw over its exterior. The fork 
centre is forced £ in. or so into the end of the wood, 
and the two turn together. In soft wood the screw¬ 
ing up of the handwheel may be sufficient; in hard 
wood a shallow slot is generally sawn for the fork 



Fig. 63 


centre to enter. Fig. 61 shows a piece of wood centred 
in this way ready for turning. The poppet centre 
is necessary not only for support but to keep the 
wood from coming out of the lathe. The wood is 
first sawn square in cross section, to a slightly larger 
size than its finished diameter, and then its corneis 
are chamfered with a chisel. The tool rest is adjusted 
so that it just clears when the work is revolving, and 
the wood is roughed down nearly to size with the 

gouge. 

For the disc-shaped pieces a faceplate, Fig. 62, 
would be used. The plate screws on to the mandrel 
nose and the wood is held to the plate by screws as 
shown. Very often an intermediate disc of wood 







































44 The Boy’s Workshop 

is used between the metal plate and the work. 
The purpose of this may be either to increase the 
diameter of the plate or to provide a w r ood surface 
which can be turned to fit recesses or projections 
or other peculiarities of outline when a disc of wood 
has to be turned on both faces and must be reversed 
on the plate and set concentric. On the faceplate 
both the circumference and the outer face of the 
work can be operated on. 

Another way of securing work in the lathe is by 
means of the cup chuck, or bell chuck, Fig. 63. The 
piece to be turned, with its grain running as shown, 
is driven tightly into the cup. It is used for pieces 
of moderate length when it is desired to have the 
outer end free for operating on with tools, or for 
cutting off small articles one at a time as they are 
turned. The cup chuck screws on to the mandrel 
nose. The piece of wood is pared slightly tapering 
so that it will drive in a tight fit. It is removed 
by punching in the opposite direction, with a stout 
piece of metal rod put through the back of the cup. 
Generally articles to be turned are cut off with the 
side chisel while the lathe is running and only the 
stump of waste wood has to be knocked out. 

Articles, or portions of them, may have to be 
turned to definite sizes. Or a number of articles 
alike must necessarily be alike in size although the 
actual size decided upon may be unimportant. In 
other cases studs to fit holes, as in Fig. 59, must 
be exact. Curves also must be graceful and uniform, 
and to make sure of this templates of thin wood or 
cardboard are sometimes cut to the profile required, 
and used for testing as the work proceeds. Between 





The Carpenter’s Shop 45 

centres lengths can generally be measured with a 
rule, or in the case of a number of short lengths all 
alike a convenient way is to set a pair of dividers 
to the length. On the faceplate both diameters and 
thicknesses can often be measured direct with a rule. 
In all these cases lines for turning to can be marked 
with pencil or cut with the point of a side chisel or 
dividers. 

But with work between centres the only way to 
measure diameters is with callipers, as in Fig. 64. 
They may be set to the size required, and the work 
tested and reduced until they will just pass over 
it, or they may be used to find the actual size of 
the work and tried on the rule afterwards. They 
are adjustable so that when their points are set to 
a certain distance apart they will remain so. On 
small diameters they can be used while the work is 
revolving, but when large it is best to stop the lathe 
for callipering. 















WOOD CARVING 


TOOLS 

S PECIAL chisels and gouges are used for carving, 
and they need to be kept extremely sharp. 
They are ground and sharpened to more acute angles 
than ordinary wood-cutting tools, and this is done 
on both faces, instead of all the angle being on one 
face only. Some of the tools are curved lengthwise 
as in Figs. 65, 66, and 67. Some straight ones are 
shown in Figs. 68, 69, 70, and 71. Knives are used 
also (Fig. 72). One or two special oilstone slips are 
wanted (Fig. 73), with angles and curves to suit the 
tools. Mallets are used considerably for driving the 
tools. The shape generally preferred by carvers is 
that in Fig. 74. Other types are shown in Fig. 75. 
A router (Fig. 76) is necessary for levelling excavated 
surfaces. 

In nearly all carving the work is securely fixed 
so that both hands are free to use the tools. This 
is done by any means which happens to be convenient. 
Sometimes cramps (Fig. 77) are used. These hold 
the work on the bench by adjusting the fixed jaw 

over an edge of the work and then 
screwing up tight against the under 
surface of an edge of the bench. 
Another kind of cramp is the hold¬ 
fast (Fig. 78). For using this the 
bench must have a hole through its 
top into which the vertical bar of the 
holdfast passes. The jaw is placed 
46 



Fig. 65 



Fig. 67 




47 


The Carpenter’s Shop 



where required on the work, and turning the screw 
causes it to press down. Another way of holding is 
shown in Fig. 79. A pointed screw enters some part 
of the back of the work, where the hole it makes does 
not matter. The parallel part of the screw goes 
through a hole in the bench top and the screwing 
up of the wing nut below holds the work down tight 
on the bench. By slacking the wing nut the work 
can be turned to different positions and tightened 
again without much trouble. 


METHODS OF WORKING 

Carved designs may stand above the general 
surface, in relief, or they may be sunk below, that 
is, cut in or incised. They may be only very slightly 
in relief, or parts may stand out so much that the 
material is cut away behind them as well as round 

the edges of the outline. 

The easiest kind of carving is that in which a 
flat surface is chip-carved. In this the pattern 
































48 The Boy’s Workshop 

consists of V-shaped grooves. Seen in cross section 
they would appear as in Fig. 80. The design is 
drawn on the surface and grooves are cut in place 
of the lines. Designs are generally geometrical 
forms repeated a number of times. The cutting 
may be done with knives or with a chisel which is 
V-shaped in cross section, or in some cases with 
ordinary chisels and gouges. If the V-shaped tool 
can be used without tearing up the grain it cuts the 
groove at one stroke. By other methods the safest 
way is first to make a vertical cut on the line to a 
depth of J in. or more, and then make sloping cuts 
from each side to meet at the bottom. A chip 
carving knife is generally used for this work, and 
is held as in Fig. 81. 

The ordinary carving tools are held as in Fig. 82, 
the left hand resting on the work as well as on the 
tool, for if the tool is not under perfect control it 
may slip and spoil the work. Sometimes it is an 
advantage to use a mallet, and then of course the 
tool is held by the left hand only. It may be used 
as in Fig. 83, for vertical incisions, or as in Fig. 84 
for chipping with a gouge. For light chipping some 



































The Carpenter’s Shop 


49 



Fig. 81 


carvers use the palm of the 
half closed left hand, instead 
of a mallet, as in Fig. 85. 

Incised work, instead of 
being mere grooves as in 
chip carving, covers broader 
surfaces. Thus the cross 
section of a leaf may appear as in Fig. 86. 

Most carving is in relief, and is proceeded with 
as follows : After the outline has been drawn on 
the wood the excavated parts are gouged away, 
and suitable chisels and gouges are used 
for cutting exactly to the lines. Some¬ 
times vertical cutting to the lines is the 
first stage before any material is gouged 
away. Where the sunk surfaces are flat 
they are generally levelled with a router, 
which is quicker than a chisel, and then 
ornamented with punch marks. A punch 
with several points, or with some simple 
design on its end, is used to dot the 
surfaces all over. Sometimes the point 
of a nail is used. This is done on the ground only, 
and not on the upper surfaces. 

When the relief is considerable, some parts will 

have to be undercut and 
some will stand higher than 
others. Sometimes separate 
details, as in Fig. 87, are 
glued on. Sometimes carv¬ 
ing is pierced, as in Fig. 88. 
Sometimes blocks are cut 
to outline, and carved as 



Fig. 83 



D 









The Boy’s Workshop 



in Fig. 89. Sometimes turned work is carved as 
in Fig. 90. 

Some of the most difficult carving is that done 
in the round, that is, where a block of wood is carved 
all over to represent some object, such as a bird 
or animal or fanciful subject. The difficulty is in 
getting correct proportions, for if too much is cut 
away from anywhere it cannot be put on again. 
Short grain must be avoided as far as possible. 
Unless the object is small and compact it has to 
be built up. Fig. 91 is an example where an eagle 




















The Carpenter’s Shop 51 

with outstretched wings would be too large to cut 
from one solid block. The wings would be separate, 
and do welled and glued on. Work of this sort 
should not be attempted by a beginner, as it would 
only end in disappointment. Practice is wanted 
first on waste pieces of cheap wood before even 
simple permanent work is attempted. 

























HOW TO MAKE A MECHANICAL 

MONEY BOX 


T HINGS which work will always have a fascina¬ 
tion, however simple the mechanical nature 
may be. The contrivance shown in the illustra¬ 
tion is of a novel description, and the mechanism 
is of the very simplest kind. 

The body can be built up of three-ply material or 
f-in. yellow pine, and suitably painted or stained. 
For making the man, a penknife can be used in the 
shaping, or it may be turned in a lathe. The cap 
could be separate, and be either glued or attached 
with small nails. 

The object is to place a penny on the man’s head, 
and when this is done he calmly places it into the 
slot of the box-like body. Arrangements can be 
made to fix a piece of glass so that the coin in 
dropping gives a ring. The piece of glass should 
be left swinging loose from the top of the tower 
piece. 

To get the turning movement for the man, which 
swings on an iron pin placed in the two bearers on the 
sides, a lead weight is fixed and attached to a piece of 
wire. It should be noted this weight is placed a little 
on the side to which the figure is required to turn— 
i.e. to the slot in the box. 

The weight of lead must be proportionate to the 
coin required, and can be made by boring a hole in a 
piece of wood with a joiner’s centre bit about § in. 
deep and |-in. bit. When the hole has been bored, 

52 


ENNV 



53 


PLAN 


















































































54 The Boy’s Workshop 

insert in the centre a round wire nail about 2 in. long, 
and lubricate with oil. 

Then run in the hole molten lead. 

It will be found that with previously oiling the 
nail when the lead is set the nail can be easily with¬ 
drawn with a pair of pincers. 

The box itself can be lightly nailed together, 
or, better still, dovetailed together, and a drawer or 
small door made in the bottom for getting out the 
coins when desired. 

Made in mahogany and polished, it looks very 
well, and the simplicity of the movement of the figure 
is a mystery to many who can see the simplest form 
of mechanism, but realize after placing a coin on the 
head it has gone down the slot. 





FRETWORK 


I N fretwork the chief tool required is a fretsaw. 

The blade is very narrow and thin, with extremely 
small teeth. It may be used in a hand frame, in a 
machine driven by foot power, or in a machine 
worked by a handwheel. Blades are sold in bundles 
of a dozen or a gross. Being so slender they are 
bound to break eventually, but they are cheap and 
never require sharpening. 

The material used is thin wood, about in. 
Designs for sawing to may be drawn on the wood or 
transferred from a drawing by means of carbon 
paper. More frequently paper designs are 
bought and pasted on the wood. After the sawing 
is done, this is removed by damping the paper. 
Simple fretwork articles consist of a single sheet of 
wood, but work can be built up of a number of such 
pieces, the same as in ordinary woodwork. 

In hand work the wood is held on a cutting table 
and the saw used as in Fig. 92. The saw, of course, 
is worked up and down, and follows the contour of 
the pattern. The blade is put in the frame so that 



its teeth cut on the down 
stroke, and the direction of 
cutting should be away from 



Fig. 93 


55 








56 The Boy’s Workshop 


Fig. 95 Fig. 96 

the worker. A cutting table of wood, Fig. 93, can be 
made and screwed to the bench, but more frequently 
they are of metal, as in Fig. 94. The V-shaped slot 
in the table allows the saw to work and gives support 
on each side to the material. In machines the saw 
only requires a small hole through the table. 

Where an interior part has to be cut out it is 
necessary first to bore a hole, otherwise it would be 
impossible to start the saw. Thus in cutting the 
ornamental interior of a bracket, Fig. 95, a small 
hole would be bored somewhere in each of the por¬ 
tions to be cut out. The holes would be within the 
lines and generally in a corner or angle as shown. 
To insert the saw in a hole, one end of it must be 
released from the frame. It is connected up again 
for sawing and released again for withdrawal. The 
holes may be bored with a bradawl or gimlet, but to 
avoid risk of splitting, a drill, Fig. 96, is generally 
used. The point of the bit is pressed lightly on the 
work, and sliding the knob backwards and forwards 
along the spiral revolves it rapidly. 

The fretsaw makes so fine a cut that other means 
of finishing are scarcely necessary. Small files are 
used for trimming angles and corners. Glasspaper 
on a block is used for flat surfaces. 
























The Carpenter’s Shop 57 

A fretwork design in thin wood can be glued on 
the surface of a solid piece. Generally the overlay, 
as it is called, is not more than in. or J in. thick, 
and of lighter colour than the background. To 
prevent the thin wood from curling up when wetted 
with the glue, a flat piece of wood must be placed on 
it and a weight on top until the glue is dry. 

Inlaying depends for its effect on the colours of 
different woods. Anyone knowing nothing about 
inlaying might suppose the design was painted on 
the surface. Actually the design is thin wood of 
another colour fitted into the ground wood. There 
is a great deal of this kind of ornament in furniture 
and in fancy articles of wood. It looks difficult to 
make joints follow a contour so closely that only the 
change in the character of the wood shows where 
they are, but there are two simple ways of doing this. 
One is to cut the thin design out first, the same as in 
fretwork, but not necessarily all in one piece. Then 
lay it on the surface into which it is to be fitted and 
scratch or cut round its edges with a sharp point 
or knife. When this has been cut out to the lines 
the parts are bound to fit. But more frequently the 
inlay and the ground are alike in thickness and the 
entire design with its ground is merely a thin veneer 



Fig. 98 


Fig 99 





















58 The Boy’s Workshop 

which is glued on to a thicker ground of cheaper 
wood. This is often the case in furniture. When 
done in this way the inlay and veneer are held 
together, sometimes glued with paper between, 
which allows of easy separation after. Then the 
two are sawn together, the same as in fretsawing. 
The principle is illustrated in Figs. 97 and 98, where a 
circle is sawn through a light and a dark piece of 
wood placed together. When the parts are separated, 
as in Fig. 98, it can be seen that the black disc can 
be put into the white ground or the white disc into 
the black ground. The same principle applies in 
Fig. 99. 

In putting such parts together they are gener- 
ally glued on a backing of paper, which strengthens 
and keeps them in place. The paper side is turned 
outwards on the finished work and scraped off. 
Inlays prepared in this way can be bought. Narrow 
strips and built-up bandings are used a great deal 
for inlaying. In such cases great thicknesses are 
built up and thin slices cut off, so that the number 
of small pieces used does not represent such tedious 
fitting as might be supposed. 








RUSTIC CARPENTRY 


I N this the work is purposely given a rough appear¬ 
ance. Boards and sawn strips are used very 
little. Branches and stems of trees are cut to 
lengths required and nailed together. An arch or 
porch may be built as in Fig. 100, or a seat as in Figs. 
101, 102. Flat boards may be covered with lengths 
of rustic wood sawn down the middle. An instance 
of this is shown in Fig. 103, which represents a 
window box for flowers. Round pieces sawn down 
the middle are often used to obtain symmetrical 
pairs, as in Fig. 104. A curved or bent piece is 
selected and the, halves reversed. 

Summer-houses built of board in the ordinary way 
may have fronts or sides of rustic trellis. In many 
cases there is a combina¬ 
tion of squared strips and 
boards and rustic wood. 

The seat in Fig. 101 has 
boards for seat and back, 
and the one in Fig. 102 
has sawn slats for the seat. 

Sawn wood for a seat is 
almost essential unless very 
straight pieces of round 
are available. 

In some work the wood 
can be used just as it is 
sawn from the tree, but in 
other cases, and especially 

59 



Fig. 100 


































60 The Boy’s Workshop 

for seats, the bark is generally stripped off and the 
wood is allowed a long time to dry and season, and 
after construction the article is varnished. 

Joints are nailed and parts fit more roughly than 
in other woodwork. In some cases there is no 
pretence of fitting them ; in others they are slightly 
notched to fit each other. Examples are shown in 
Fig. 105. Horizontal pieces at the top of uprights 
should rest on top rather than be nailed to the side. 
Ends may be cut roughly concave to fit round parts, 
or the latter may be notched to make a flat joint. 
Sometimes parts are bored to receive a plug or dowel, 
which is equivalent to a tenon in ordinary work. 
There is a great deal of diagonal fitting, and diagonals 
may be nailed either to one side or between. When 
diagonals cross each other, as in Fig. 100, both 
methods may be adopted. 

In driving nails into slender w r ork there must be 
something behind the wood to resist the shock. 
When the work cannot be laid on a bench or on the 
ground for nailing, a flat-iron, or heavy hammer, or 
block of metal should be held against the side opposite. 











































eoi hd 


















































































































PAINTING AND POLISHING 

AINT and polish are used to preserve the material 
beneath and to improve the appearance. The 
surface to be treated must first be clean and free 
from grease, otherwise the colouring medium will 
not adhere properly. For this reason old paint is 
either cleaned or removed before repainting. Paint 
and varnish have to be in liquid form for convenience 
in applying them, but the liquid dries or is absorbed 
into the material, and the result is a film of dry 
colouring matter adhering to the surface. The 
liquids used are generally linseed oil or turpentine 
or quick-drying spirit. It is usual to apply two or 
three coats, allowing each one to dry before the next 
is put on. 

In painting, the first coat is called priming. It 
is not intended to colour but to fill the pores when 
used on woodwork. It is generally a pink colour, 
because white lead and red lead are used in linseed 
oil. It may be made lead colour by adding lamp¬ 
black. First coats should never be dark in colour 
if final ones are to be light, for the dark will show 

through. The colour 
of the coat beneath 
also has some effect on 
the shade of the final 
one unless the latter 
is very dark. After 
priming, holes may be 
stopped with putty. 



Fig. 106 



62 













The Carpenter’s Shop 63 


Successive coats of 
paint are usually dif¬ 
ferent in colour, the 
reason being that it 
makes it easier to see 
exactly how much of 
the preceding coat has 
been covered. With 
same colour paint on 
each, parts might be missed or unevenly coated. 
Each coat is allowed to dry and, in well-finished 
work, is rubbed down with fine glasspaper before 
applying the next. It is only by doing this that a 
perfectly smooth surface is attainable. 

Varnish and polish differs from paint in being 
nearly transparent. When used on wood the grain 
shows through. When wood is painted the grain 
does not show. Various gums and resins are used 
for varnish and are dissolved in oil or spirit. Shellac 



varnish is used a great deal, both as varnish and for 
polishing. It is made by dissolving shellac in 
methylated spirit. It has a yellow or orange colour, 
but this does not prevent it from being transparent. 

Wood may be stained before 
polishing. 

Painting and varnishing 
is done with a brush, but 
polishing is done with a 
frr linen pad called a rubber. 
^ • It consists generally of 
cotton wool in a piece of 
linen rag, the corners of 
Fig. 108 the latter being gathered 











64 The Boy’s Workshop 

up and grasped in the 
hand. Before commencing 
to polish the grain of the 
'wood must be filled, so 
that it will not absorb 
the polish and require 
prolonged treatment be¬ 
fore a permanently glossy 
surface results. In hard 
close-grained woods there 
is less absorption than in 
open-grained ones. Varnish can be used as a filler, 
but cheaper and less troublesome fillers do equally 
well and are generally resorted to for large work. 
Sometimes size is used, which is merely thin glue ; 
sometimes whiting and turpentine or plaster-of-paris 
and water, or ready-made fillers can be bought. 

After a surface of bare wood has been glasspapered 
and the dust brushed off and blown out of the corners, 
it is ready to be filled or varnished or painted. In 
rough outdoor work, of course, there is no glass- 
papering. When the sur¬ 
face has been wetted by 
the varnish or paint and 
has dried there is a 
feeling of roughness if 
the palm of the hand is 
passed over it. This 
roughness is removed by 
glasspapering before the 
next coat is applied. For 
a flat surface the glass- 
paper may be used on a 









































The Carpenter’s Shop 


65 


block of wood as in Fig. 

106. For curved surfaces 
it may be used as in 
Fig. 107 or 108, and in 
angles it may be doubled 
and used as in Fig. 109. 

The direction of rubbing 
usually follows the grain. 

For smoothing down coats 
of paint or varnish very 
little glasspapering is 
necessary and the glass- 
paper should be fine or 
worn nearly smooth. After a final coat there should 
be no glasspapering, because it would remove the 
gloss. Apparent dryness and really satisfactory 
dryness are quite different. The longer a coat can 
be left to dry before rubbing down the better. 

In using a brush care must be taken not to leave 
marks of the brush or allow varnish or paint to run 

over edges of 
the work and 
thicken. Fig. 
110 shows what 
may happen if 
the brush is 
used the wrong 
way. To avoid 
this the brush 
should move as 
indicated by 
the arrows in 
Fig. 111. To 

E 





































66 The Boy's Workshop 

avoid brush marks and inequality the liquid must 
not be too thick and the brush should not go over 
some parts more than others, nor in directions which 
cross each other. Two or three thin coats give a 
better result than one thick one. 

In polishing the rubber is moistened with polish 
and rubbed lightly over the surface in convenient 
sweeps, Figs. 112, 113, all parts being covered uni¬ 
formly. Then the work is allowed some hours to 
dry and the process repeated. Finally a clean 
rubber damped with spirit only is used to polish the 
surface of the shellac already applied. 



































MAKING A HALL TABLE 


T HE hall table with fretted ends described 
here may be constructed in black walnut 
or mahogany, or in white wood, to be stained and 
polished afterwards. The legs are 1^-in. square 
stuff, tapered off equally all round below the drawer 
rails, the reduction being to 1 in. at the neck of the 
foot, which is shaped and slightly rounded under¬ 
neath as shown. At the ends the legs are constructed 
by means of a rail a, 1 in. thick and 7 in. deep, stub- 
tenoned in position, and at the top by a rail b, lj in. 
by | in. deep as in Fig. 2, slightly tenoned to their 
upper extremities. The deep rail a should be flush 
on the inside with the legs, as it will form one side 
of the drawer space. The void between a and b is 
filled with a f-in. hard-wood panel, fretted to a very 
simple geometric pattern, and fitted into grooves in 
the legs and top rail and into part of a rebate as at 
c in Fig. 8. 

At the back the legs are joined up first of all by 
means of a 6f-in. rail as at d in Figs. 3 and 5, tenoned 
as at e in Fig. 6. Over this, and into the rebates at 
the ends c (Fig. 8) fits a f-in. lower shelf, having all 
its edges flush with the outer faces of the legs, round 
which it is cut, and into which it should be notched 
f in. deep. Its top back edge is rebated as just 
above d (Fig. 5) to take a long narrow piece of f-in. 
moulded and panelled framing, let into rebates in 
the back legs F (Fig. 6), and with its top housed slightly 
into the top shelf, which is f in. thick, and moulded 

67 


3-6 



68 









































































































































The Carpenter’s Shop 69 





Fig. 5.—Cross 
Section 

Fig. 7.—Detail of 
Division between 
Drawers 

Fig. 8.— Detail 
Section through 
Rail, showing 
Drawer, etc. 


in any fashion that you may have a preference 
for. This shelf is finished along the front with 
a lfin. by f-in. rail g (Figs. 1 and 5), dovetailed 
to the tops of the front legs. The top shelf is secured 
by oblique screwing from behind the various rails. 

Before this can be done, the 2-in. by f-in. drawer 
rail H (Figs. 1, 5 and 6) must be framed in position, 
and also a vertical position as at J (F ig* 1)* If this 
is made li in. wide as shown, to match the legs, it 

f ^ f . ,9 _ J _ i - 1 TEKr 

Scale for Figs. 1 to 6 

can be built up as in Fig. 7, the upright j being 
stub-tenoned top and bottom. As a matter of fact, 
this could be reduced to one thickness of about 











































































70 The Boy’s Workshop 

| in., thereby simplifying the work. It must be 
let into the back rail, and oak runners for the drawers 
should be screwed on as at k in Figs. 4, 5 and 8. 
There is nothing special about the drawers, which 
it will be best to arrange in. or so behind the 
framing when closed. The only portion not already 
described is the set of three arch or spandril pieces, 
which are cut out of stuff 3^ in. by f in. to curves 
of the radii given in Figs. 1 and 2. They should be 
housed J in. into the legs at the ends, and butted 
against the rails above them, their faces being J in. 
behind those of the rails l (Fig. 8). 

All the parts should be fitted together complete, 
then taken to pieces, and all except the outside 
surfaces of the legs bodied in with polish, glued up, 
cleaned off where necessary, and the polishing 
finished. 






HOME-MADE GIFTS 


“ CHINESE ” DINNER-MATS 

SET of handsome dinner-mats may be cut in 
thin fretwood, as illustrated. They may 
either be circular, as shown, or oblong with rounded 
corners, and are of graduated 
sizes. Chinese characters are cut 
out in the centre for ornament, 
such, for instance, as may be 
copied from some of the postage 
stamps of that great country. 

The characters are filled in with 
darkened wood. 




A PHOTOGRAPH FRAME 

This makes a gift certain to please everybody, 
especially if a portrait of the donor is included. The 
frame itself may be cut in fretwood to almost any 

desired size, with a 
rectangular opening 
in the middle, but a 
little nearer the top 
than the bottom. 
The design is cut out 
and filled in with 
wood of contrasting colour. A piece of thin metal 
is cut to the shape shown at a, bent in opposite 
directions at the dotted lines on three sides to form 
a pocket for the glass and photograph, and fixed by 

7i 



II 


• 1 


1 '* 


»■ 


n s v =r 

B 

A 









72 The Boy’s Workshop 

small screws behind the opening. The strut is bevelled 
at the top, and is attached by a small hinge, as shown 
in section at b. 


A MATCH-HOLDER 

An artistic match-holder may be constructed of 
J in. fretwood and sheet brass or copper about in. 

thick. The wooden panel a is 
cut to the dimensions shown, 
glass -papered and wax- 
polished. The brass or copper 
piece which holds the match¬ 
box in position is set out and 
cut as seen at b, filed smooth 
at the edges, bent at the 
dotted lines, and attached to 
the panel by two screws, as seen at c. 

A GLOVE BOX 

This may measure 10 J in. by 3 J in. outside, and 
in. deep. The lid, of course, is made to fit. The 

construction is very simple ^_ 

and hardly calls for com- ^ 

ment, save to remark that 
the bottom, which is nailed 
on from underneath, pro¬ 
jects ^ in. all round. In 
the top of the lid the word “ Gloves ” is cut with 
a fretsaw, as shown, a piece of coloured silk or velvet 
being glued inside, which will show through with 
good effect. The box and lid should first, however, 
be stained or enamelled inside and out. 




U/s" -si 
— 


2 I 

S 

<VJ 


«+ 

§ 

$ \o ,J 

6 























HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE 
MEDICINE CHEST 


T HE hanging medicine chest illustrated by Fig. 1 
has a cupboard for such handy remedies as soap 
liniment, camphorated oil, smelling salts, vinegar, 
etc., not forgetting Condy’s fluid for washing cuts 
before binding up. A second cupboard holds band¬ 
ages, lint, adhesive tape, and the like. The drawers 
may contain sticking plaster, ointments, pills, a 
small pair of scissors, and a packet of safety pins, 
while the shelves can be used according to fancy. 

The sides, shelves, and drawer fronts are of f-in. 
wood, the remainder being of J-in. material. First 
cut the sides to the shape and dimensions indicated 
by Fig. 2, then two shelves 22J in. long by 5f in. 
wide. Nail the shelves in between the sides, as 
seen in Fig. 1, then cut and fix the back, noting the 
shaped bot¬ 
tom and top, 
the latter ris¬ 
ing 2 in. above 
the sides in 
the centre. 

Prepare an 
upright par¬ 
tition 16| in. 
long, cut 
grooves for 
shelves in the 
middle on both 

73 













































74 The Boy’s Workshop 

sides | in. and | in. deep, as at a and b in Fig. 3, 
and nail it in so that it divides the space in half. 

Next cut four shorter shelves, 11 in. by 5f in., 
and fix them in by nails through the sides and par¬ 
tition. The inner ends of the two middle shelves 
are to fit in the grooves, first touching them with 
glue. Cut doors to fit the larger spaces and fix 
four lj in. wide strips of the same thickness round 
the edges, by glue and screws from the back, to 
resemble panelling. Fix each door in with a pair 
of small brass hinges and provide bronze catches. 
Make tw r o drawers to fit the smaller spaces, putting 
them together like boxes, as seen in Fig. 4. Furnish 
them with bronze handles and, lastly, fix a couple 
of metal hanging plates at the back. 





Section II.—THE METALWORKER 


WIREWORK 

TRON, galvanized iron, steel, copper and brass 
wire may be bought in coils or reels of different 
thicknesses. To straighten fairly thin wire when 
bent, knock a number of stout nails well into a 
thick board in zigzag arrangement, as shown in 
Fig. 1, and pull the wire to and fro between them. 
Thicker wire may be hammered. 

A straight nose pliers (Fig. 2) is wanted for 
bending wire, while for curves a round-nose one 
(Fig. 3) is used. Cutting is done with a wire-cutting 
nippers (Fig. 4), or by making a nick about one-third 
through with a triangular file and snapping the 
wire across. 

To construct a fireguard (Fig. 5), form two end 


























76 The Boy’s Workshop 

pieces a and b of wire about J in. thick. The method 
of making the joint, which is secured by thinner 
wire, is shown in Fig. 6. Join these together by 
three cross-pieces c, d and e. Then obtain, or make, 
a close lattice or netting of fairly thin wire, and 
cut it to cover the framework on the top, front 
and sides, fixing it on with twisted wire loops at 
intervals. Two stout wire hooks are usually provided 
to catch on the bars of the grate. 

Garden arches can be put together by joining 
two curved frames made to the shape shown in 
Fig. 7. The thickest wire obtainable, or even thin 
galvanized iron rod, is used for the framework, 
the joints being secured with thin wire as illustrated, 
and the space between afterwards filled in with 
a netting of finer wire according to fancy. Or three 
straight frames, as in Fig. 8, can be employed if 
preferred, the middle or top one being closed at 
each end. 

A hanging flower basket (Fig. 9) is not at all 
difficult to make. First form a circular base (a, 
Fig. 10) with two cross strips to support the pot. 
Next is required a larger ring b for the top, the 
two rings being connected by six straight pieces 
at an equal distance apart. 

Round the top the twelve curved rays are then 
formed, from one continuous piece of wire, twisted 
round as shown by Fig. 11, while an ornamental 
edging is also given to the bottom. 

About three long wires of identical length are 
needed for hanging. These are secured to the 
basket, and are fastened to a hooked ring at the 
upper end. 








The Metalworker 77 

Wire puzzles are always popular, and look 
neatest in copper. The trefoil puzzle (Fig. 12) is 
believed to be new. It is really very simple, and 
is only given as an example, though it will perplex 
some. The small ring a on the bottom loop has 
to be got off, which is apparently impossible. The 
secret is to slip it round to the twist at b, and give 
it a turning motion, which will force it between 
the twists. It can then easily be carried over one 
of the upper bends and endways over one of the 
top loops. 



Fig. ,7 


Fig. 8 


Fig. 9 


Fig. 11 


Fig. 12 




























SPRINGS 


S PRINGS of various descriptions are required 
for many purposes or may need replacing. 
A knowledge of how to make them is therefore 
handy. The simplest kind, and that most in use, 
is the helical (Fig. 1), often wrongly called spiral. 
This is employed where a pulling force is wanted ; 
or, by allowing the two ends to project out straight 
at a right angle, the spring can be used to close a 
hinged flap or door. Helical springs are made by 
twisting bright steel wire round a wooden roller 
of the desired diameter. Mattress springs are formed 
in this way of steel, and afterwards coated chemically 
with copper, which is merely to prevent rust. A 
broken copper spring may very well be replaced 
by a steel one, rubbed now and then with a little 
grease. 

The spiral spring proper (Fig. 2) is more difficult 
to construct, since it has to be wound round on 
itself, between two flat discs or cheeks, to stop it 
slipping sideways. It is, however, less likely to be 
wanted. Clock and watch springs are examples 
of flat spirals. 

A different type of spiral spring has a conical 
taper, as in Fig. 3. This variety is used on the 
back door of box cameras, in stuffed furniture, etc. 
It may easily be obtained by winding the wire round 
a wooden cone of the desired size, as shown by Fig. 4. 
A double-coned spring—that is, of hour-glass shape—• 
is often used in upholstered couches and chairs. 

78 


The Metalworker 79 


This can be formed by making a one-coned spring 
as in Fig. 4, then taking it off, turning it over, and 
continuing the winding at the other end. 

Flat springs scarcely need comment. 

All springs have to be formed of the untempered 
wire or strip metal. Any holes also must be 
drilled first. For some purposes no further treat¬ 
ment is needed, but the better class of springs 
require tempering. This is done by heating the 
spring on a clear fire, or preferably on a sheet-iron 
plate placed over the fire or on a gas-ring, until 
it turns a dull cherry-red. The spring should be 
turned occasionally, so as to be uniformly heated. 
When red-hot, it is picked quickly up with a small 
tongs or pincers, and at once dropped into linseed 
oil, in which it is left for about fifteen minutes. 
It is then taken out and lighted with a match, 
allowing the oil to burn itself out, and is lastly 
dropped into fresh oil to cool. 




Fig. 3 



















CHAIN AND RING WORK 


S IMPLE chains are quite easy to make in steel, 
brass, copper or silver wire, only requiring a 
little patience. Suppose it is a plain oval link chain, 
a hardwood or metal rod will be needed of a diameter 
about equal to the inside of the link. The wire is 
bent round this to form a loop, as in Fig. 1. Next 
take off the loop, and make a second one below it, 
as in Fig. 2. Give the loops a twist one-quarter 
round, so that they are at right angles, and nip 
off from the wire. This forms a double link. The 
chain is made by joining a number of these, as 
seen in Fig. 3. Having slipped one on to the other at 
a join, the gap is tightened up gently with the pliers. 

A coin necklace can be put together with single 
oval loops—Chinese, Oriental and Turkish coins, or 
brass replicas of old English spade guineas, as used 
for counters, being most suitable. First a hole 
has to be drilled at either side of the coin, and care 
should be taken to space these holes evenly. Then 
the coins are connected as shown in Fig. 4. Neck¬ 
lace fastenings (Fig. 5) are obtainable from most 
jewellers or watchmakers. The two parts of the 
fastenings are attached by an extra small loop or 






The Metalworker 81 



ring to the ends of the necklace. A pleasing effect 
results from arranging coins of different sizes, as 
in Fig. 6. 

Coin bracelets look better with two short links 
at each side, both consisting of three single loops, 
as seen in Fig. 7. 

Round loop chains can be made instead of oval 
ones, the links being formed like rings, as now to 
be described. 

Rings have many uses. To construct them a 
handy way is to wind wire continuously round a 
circular rod or roller near one end, and then to 
cut across the loops with a metal-cutting fretsaw, 
as shown in Fig. 8. Each loop, except the two 
ends one, then forms a ring on removal, which only 
needs pressing tight with the pliers. 

Curtain rings of all sizes may be made in this 
way, with or without an attached loop, as illustrated 
in Fig. 9. Oval rings for single link chains can 
obviously be formed in numbers in the same manner, 
employing an oval rod instead of a round one. 

F 










BENT IRON WORK 


A METHOD which produces extremely artistic 
and handsome results with comparatively 
little trouble or outlay is that known as bent iron 
work, though, as a matter of fact, brass and other 
metals may be used. Narrow strip iron for this 
purpose can be purchased, the only tools required 


being a flat-nose pliers, a round-nose pliers, and a 
“ snips ” for cutting (Fig. 1). 

The joints and fastenings are mostly made by 
means of the simple clip (Fig. 2), cut from the strip, 
bent over twice, and pressed down where needed 
with the pliers. 

An easy article to commence with is the flower 
stand (Fig. 3), to hold a tapering glass. First con¬ 
struct two rings, one larger than the other, using 
the glass as a guide. The join for these is shown 
by Fig. 4. Then make two supports as in Fig. 5, 
and clip them to the rings ; this is 

done by two clips at each joint, 

crossing each Q^|\ / °^ ier ’ as in Fig. 6. 

Next make the fhr^\ L two rings for the 

base, connecting (W~nJ\ th em as seen in 
Fig. 3, and fasten V2flW\ IIIS/ the base to the 


Fig. 1 


Fig. 2 



Fig. 4 




The Metalworker 83 




Fig. 6 Fig. 8 

supports. The two pairs of orna¬ 
mental curves can then be 
formed and fixed in position, 
completing the work. 

The hall lamp (Fig. 7) is more 
ambitious. First make three rings 4f in. in diameter, 
and fix two of them 6j in. apart by uprights curved 
at the bottom, as in Fig. 8. There should really be 
four uprights, but two are omitted to simplify the 
diagram. Then fix the third ring midway. 

For the conical top cut a disc of sheet iron 
8f in. in diameter, and mark two radii a and b 
from the centre at a right angle, as in Fig. 9. Mark 
a line c about 1 in. from b for the join, and cut 
through the lines a and c. The small round hole 
in the middle is to admit either a gas pipe or an elec¬ 
tric lamp holder, and its size should be regulated 
accordingly. Fold the cone round to the line b, 
mark the places for little slits, and secure by passing 
clips through and folding them down inside. 

Secure the cone to the framework by piercing 
three or four pairs of slits near the margin, as at d, 
through which clips are inserted and tightened round 
the upper ring. The ornamental scrolls are then 





















84 The Boy’s Workshop 


made, four of each sort, and fixed on the cone in 
a similar way, also a small ring at the summit. 
The other ornaments and their method of attach¬ 
ment are sufficiently explained by the illustration. 
A cylinder of mica or of tinted gelatine may be 
placed inside the lamp and clipped to the frame at 
the bottom, or it may even be left open, with a 
frosted bulb inside. 

The fire screen (Fig. 10) requires a rectangular 
framework of thicker metal, about 1 ft. 9 in. by 1 ft. 
3 in., which may be put together by angle joins at 
the corners, secured by larger clips. The ornaments 
simply need careful duplication, the manner of 
clipping on being plainly indicated. It looks better 
if the rectangle is filled in at the back with a sheet 
of dented bronze or copper ; or, if merely used as 
a fire ornament, pleated silk is effective. The 
circular finials are made as shown by Fig. 11. If 
the iron is not already blackened the finished work 
should be given a coat of dull black paint. 

















METAL FRETWORK 


F RETWORK in metal needs a different saw 
from that used for wood. It has very fine 
teeth, with gaps between them, as shown enlarged 
by Fig. 1. The work is much slower and cannot 
be hurried, or the saw will get overheated and prob¬ 
ably break. An adjustable frame that allows short¬ 
ened pieces of saw to be used, as in Fig. 2, is an 
advantage, although not suitable for large designs, 
since it does not allow sufficient play. To make 
the holes for starting cuts an Archimedean drill 
(Fig. 3) will be required, while for clearing tiny 
corners fine files, round or triangular, must be used. 
These are also handy to rub down the sharp edges 
when finished. 

The design should be copied to the desired size 
on paper and stuck on the metal with strong paste, 
such as that sold in jars for mounting photographs. 
H A piece of wood with a V-shaped portion 
I cut out is clamped on the table to 

support the metal, and the latter in turn 




i 


i 


is clamped to the wood. 





It is advisable to 




Fig. 1 


€t& - 

Fig. 2 


Fig. 3 


Fig. 4 


85 



















86 The Boy’s Workshop 



Fig. 5 



Fig. 7 



Fig. 6 


oil the saw at intervals or to rub it with a candle. 
Note that the points of the teeth should be down¬ 
wards. When cutting is done the paper is soaked off. 

A pyramidal lamp-shade in copper or brass is 
attractive. Fig. 4 gives a design for one side, while 
Fig. 5 indicates how to set out the pattern. The 
join may be fastened by narrow metal clips passed 
through slits. The shade may be lined with coloured 
silk glued at the edges, and is intended to fit over 
the usual ring support. 

Artistic sides and base for a cruet stand may 
be formed from the swan design given in Fig. 6, 
which illustrates the complete pattern with one side 
cut. This is meant to be attached to the handle and 

















The Metalworker 87 

rings taken from a cheap cruet, as in Fig. 7, the 
ordinary plain base being removed by unscrewing 
the winged nut a. These fittings vary in size, so that 
the design must be adapted. Roughly, one side 
(Fig. 8) will be about 5 in. wide and 2| in. high. 
When all four are done the sides are bent up carefully 
against the edge of a board, while the small corner 
pieces A, b, c and d (Fig. 6) are bent down for 
supports. A hole must be made in the centre to 
receive the bottom of the fitting. 



Fig. 9 Fig. 10 


An unconventional photograph frame is shown 
by Fig. 9. The dotted lines near the margin indicate 
where the metal is folded to form a groove for the 
glass, picture, and back. A quite simple yet re¬ 
markably effective glove case is depicted in Fig. 10. 
This scarcely requires explanation. The sawing, 
of course, is done in the flat, the box and lid being 
afterwards made up. It is lined with silk or velvet, 
which shows through the cut parts. 

Brooches of all kinds are readily made with the 
fretsaw, Fig. 11 being a typical example. It will 
be seen that pieces are left at a and b to form the 
catch and the hinge for the fastening respectively. 























88 The Boy’s Workshop 


The hinge part is curved over, as seen in Fig. 12, 
using a wire as guide. The fastening may be made 
as in Fig. 13, inserted between the two halves of the 
hinge, and a short piece of wire pushed through the 
holes for a pin, tightening up with the pliers. 

Buckles afford another opportunity, Fig. 14 
being a specimen. The cross-piece in the middle 
should be rounded with the file, and a tongue made 
of stout wire as in Fig. 15. 

Ornamental hinges ought not to be forgotten. 
As shown in Fig. 16, the two halves can have inter¬ 
locking projections left, as at a and b, which are 
curved round on a wire, and a suitable pin fitted 
through. 




















SHEET-METAL WORK 


A MATEURS’ work in sheet-metal has mainly 
to be restricted to articles of square or rect¬ 
angular outline, since the tools and machines used 
for round articles are not readily obtainable by 
them. The metal mostly employed is sheet-iron, 
either plain or tinned, but brass, copper, and zinc 
are utilized for some purposes. The tools most 
serviceable are : A shears or a snips for cutting, 
a flat-headed hammer (Fig. 1), a round-headed 
hammer (Fig. 2), occasionally handy for hollowing, 
a boxwood mallet (Fig. 3), round-nose pliers and 
flat-nose pliers. A vice is also wanted to hold 
home-made shaping tools. For turning over straight 
edges, a piece of iron having its top filed to the 
shape shown in Fig. 4 will be needed, while for 
curved edges one filed like Fig. 5 is required. Hard 
wood, however, will answer. For wiring edges, 
a block of wood is cut, and a narrow groove made 
down the middle, as in Fig. 6. 

To bend an ordinary flat edge, fix the straight 
tool in the vice, lay the metal horizontally along 
the top, and let it project for the amount to be bent. 
Then, with the flat hammer, gradually knock down 
the edge to a right angle, as in Fig. 7. Next, tilt 
the sheet downwards till nearly vertical, and knock 
the edge further, as in Fig. 8. Lastly, remove 
from the tool, and knock flat with the mallet. This 
kind of edge answers for most purposes, but if re¬ 
quired to be extra strong a wire is introduced. 



go The Boy’s Workshop 

Having formed a bend as in Fig. 8, lay the wire 
along inside it and place over the groove in the 
block. Then with the mallet knock the wired 
part into the groove and at the same time finish 
the fold, the result being as in Fig. 9. 

Simple boxes, as in Fig. 10, are good objects 
for preliminary work. Fig. 11 shows how to mark 
and cut the pattern. If not capable of soldering, 
the corners may be fixed by small rivets, or in large 
boxes with bolts and nuts. Lids to fit are formed 
in the same way, only not so deep. 

Obviously trays are but shallow boxes, and by 
cutting the corners at an angle sloping sides may 
be obtained. 

In the artistic candlestick (Fig. 12), the tray 
portion has the edges sloping inwards. Fig. 13 
gives the pattern for the shaft, the full lines having 
to be cut and the dotted ones folded. The join is 
made by folding a and b over the tongues c and d, 
while the shaft is fixed to the tray by passing the 
tongues e and f through slits and turning them down 
underneath. The handle is a narrow strip bent 
over at each edge, folded as shown by Fig. 14, and 
secured by a small bolt and nut. 

The soap rack (Fig. 15) is very easily made, 
Fig. 16 being the pattern. The curved edge at the 
top is folded by degrees on the curved tool and 
knocked flat. A piece of perforated zinc is cut 
to fit, and is laid loosely over the hole in the bottom. 

The letter-box illustrated by Fig. 17 scarcely 
needs explanation, since it is essentially nothing 
but a box with a sloping top. Behind the opening 
in the front grooves are fixed to hold the sliding door, 





The Metalworker 


9i 


which is a grating of stout wire. To the top of the 
grating is attached the hinge of a staple, the staple 
itself being secured to the sloping top of the box 
by bolts and nuts inside. A padlock keeps all 
secure. The lugs at the sides, for fixing to the 
door, can be cut out of the back and folded outwards ; 
or, if preferred, the box may simply be screwed on 
inside through holes in the back. 

The nutmeg grater (Fig. 18) has a flat back 
with the edges bent over, four slits being made to 
receive tongues on the curved piece. The grating 
part is first cut flat, leaving two small tongues at each 
side, the top and bottom edges being wired. Then, 
from the back, a number of small holes are punched 
by hammering a nail against it, which leaves rough 
projections outside. The piece is then bent to a 
curve and fixed to the back by means of the tongues. 

A triangular dark-room lamp is often handy. 



Fig. l 


Fig. 2 


Fig. 7 


Fig. 8 Fig. 9 










































92 


The Boy’s Workshop 



Fig. 19 is the pattern for the sides, the upper and 
lower edges being turned over twice to hold the 
glasses, or once only if ruby fabric is used. The top 
and bottom are both triangular trays, as in Fig. 20, 
with circular holes in the centre. To exclude 
light, each has a triangular plate (Fig. 21), just 
a shade smaller, fixed about £ in. away from it 
by means of three tongues, passed through slits 
and turned over outside. The bottom piece (Fig. 
22) has, in addition, a short tube for a candle fixed 
to the plate in the same way. 

A dust-bin lid may be formed according to the 
pattern shown in Fig. 23. A cut is made along 
the line a as far as the middle. The edges having 
been turned over, the lid is bent to a shallow cone 
by bringing the edge a up to the line B, and fastening 
by a bolt or rivet. The rim may be made of a strip 
cut as in Fig. 24, folded at the bottom edge, bent 









































The Metalworker 


93 


round to a circle of the right diameter, secured at 
the ends, and fixed to the lid by passing the little 
tongues through slits and turning them down to 
either side alternately. The handle (Fig. 25) is 
made from a strip cut as in Fig. 26, and fixed by 
small nuts and bolts. This is also an excellent 
way for putting on a new saucepan handle. 

The housewife is always grateful for small fittings 
such as brackets for curtain rods (Fig. 27), made in 
thin sheet-brass or copper; or bolts and catches 
for cupboards, etc. (Figs. 28 and 29). 



Fig. 24 Fig. 25 27 28 29 






































REPOUSSE WORK 

I N repousse work (Fr. repousser, to force back) 
the design is formed on thin metal by hammer¬ 
ing and punching from behind. Copper is mostly 
used, but bronze, soft brass, lead, pewter and silver 
are also suitable. 

Hammers and mallets of various sizes are em¬ 
ployed, a favourite pattern resembling a chairman’s 
or auctioneer’s hammer. A small mallet of the 
shape shown in Fig. 1 is, however, quite satisfactory. 

Many descriptions of outlining tools, punches, 
and “ matting ” tools for producing a patterned 
ground are, or were, obtainable, but much useful 
information will be gained by at first working home¬ 
made tools and appliances shaped from short pieces 
of steel or iron rod with the file. 

Thus, a straight tracer for marking outlines 
(Fig. 2) has a chisel-like edge, only not sharp enough 
to cut through the thin metal. The blade of a small 
screwdriver will answer if filed thinner. A curved 
tracer (Fig. 3) may be hollowed out on the inner 
side with a round file. A round-ended raising 
punch (Fig. 4) is easily made, as is also a curved 
and rounded punch (Fig. 5). A fluting punch (Fig. 
6) can be hollowed with a small rat’s-tail file, while 
the matting punch (Fig. 7) is simply filed on the 
face with a grooved diamond pattern, or with parallel 
lines, or any other desired device. 

The design is mostly traced on the outside or 
“ face ” of the metal. It can be copied first with 

94 


The Metalworker 95 


carbon paper, or drawn in with pencil. The metal 
is laid on a leather sand-bag, or on a piece of felt, 
the tracer being held upright in the left hand as in 
Fig. 1, letting the third finger rest on the metal to 
steady it. The design is then marked out by a 
succession of light taps with the mallet. The line 
must be continuous, not a number of interrupted 
marks, only a slight indentation being needed. 

For a preliminary attempt, a small design, such 
as the marguerite in Fig. 8, may be traced. The 
metal is then turned over and laid on a flat bed of 
some solid, slightly yielding substance. A 1-in. 
thick layer of plasticine contained in a wooden or 
metal tray may be used, and is not so disagreeable 
as the orthodox recipe—melted pitch mixed with an 
equal amount of dry plaster-of-paris. 

The metal is pressed into contact with the plasti¬ 
cine, and is then dented in as found necessary with 
one or other of the punches, doing the work gradually 
with smart taps of the mallet, but not attempting 
to obtain too much relief at once. The shallowest 




Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10 


t—' ; 

p| 

\r 



i 

• 



1 

* 


i 

• 

i 

i 

,_L 

___ 


f a\ 

_ _ _ 

i 

i 

j_, 


Fig. 11 



































g6 The Boy’s Workshop 



parts should be done first, going deeper by degrees. 
The petals of the flower w r ould be executed with 
rounded punches (Figs. 4 and 5), while the stalk 
requires a thin straight one. The central boss 
needs a punch of half-ball shape—the end of a round- 
headed bolt would do. The small florets in the 
boss may be indicated with a blunt-pointed nail. 
From the back, the result will look something like 
Fig. 9. 

The plate is now removed and any adhering 
plasticine rubbed off with a rag. It should appear 
as in Fig. 10, and the relief effect may be heightened 
on a dull surface by rubbing lightly with very fine 
emery paper, so as to bring out the more prominent 
parts only. 

A matchbox case is shown in Fig. 11. It should 
be cut to the pattern, and the two openings for 
striking made before working. The grapes require 
a small rounded punch. When finished, the metal 
is folded on the dotted lines. 



Fig. 15 Fig. 16 


Fig. 17 


























The Metalworker 97 

An apparently elaborate, yet quite easily con¬ 
structed, Japanese toast-rack is illustrated by Fig. 12. 
The ends and bottom are in one piece, the method 
of cutting and folding being evident. The relief 
design on the ends is an adaptation of the rising 
sun on the Japanese flag. The divisions should 
be cut as in Fig. 13, and fixed to the bottom with 
small rivets, while the handle is attached to the 
sides in a similar manner. This will look well in 
two contrasting metals, say steel or aluminium for 
the divisions and copper for the outside parts. 

The sycamore-leaf inkstand (Fig. 14) is very 
handsome if well made. First saw or cut the metal 
to the outline, and mark a square the size of the 
glass receptacle, obtainable from any stationer. 
In the square, mark out four curved tongues, as in 
Fig. 15. Cut round the curves, but for the present 
leave thp tongues flat. The thicker veins are then 
traced and worked in relief by means of a thin, 
straight punch, slightly rounded. The work is 
next turned over and the thinner veins indented on 
the face with the tracer. The four tongues can now 
be turned up, as in Fig. 16, and the leaf hollowed 
by curving the edges slightly in an irregular fashion. 
A handle of black iron wire curled into a spiral may 
be fixed by flattening the end to take tiny rivets. 

The curb fender (Fig. 17) is very simple. First 
obtain some wood of the section shown in Fig. 18, 
and join together to the required size with mitred 
corners, fixing strongly with glue and nails. Then 
cut patterns for the metal in thick paper. It should 
be in three pieces, wide enough to go round both 
sides and allow narrow strips to turn over at the 
a 





98 The Boy’s Workshop 






Fig. 22 


bottom. The middle portion should be long enough 
to lap over the sides at each end. 

Next cut the metal according to the patterns, 
form the relieved bosses and indent what will be 
the front with an irregular matted design. Then 
fix to the wood with small nails of the same metal, 
as in Fig. 19, first placing a strip of thin sheet iron 
a along the bottom. The method of overlapping 
at the corners is shown in Fig. 20. 

The clock case with daffodil design (Fig. 21) is 
intended to be fixed over a wooden foundation, 
made to hold a small American clock. The pattern 
will not present any difficulty if worked out on 
paper. Fixing can be done by tiny nails at the back. 
The top and sides, it will be noted, have matted panels. 

Finger plates offer great variety of opportunity, 
Fig. 22 being a typical suggestion. 















STENCIL CUTTING IN METAL 


T HE tools required for cutting small stencils are 
a tracing point (Fig. 1), and an angular 
graver (Fig. 2). The leather-covered sand-bag seen 
in Fig. 3 is of assistance in holding the work steady. 

For first attempts, sheet zinc about as thin as 
a visiting card may be used. Sketch a simple design 
lightly on this with a pencil, and scratch in the 
outlines with the tracing point. Then, with a touch 
of Prout’s elastic glue underneath two ends, secure 
the zinc temporarily to a piece of thicker metal, 
and lay it on the sand-bag, or on a doubled piece 
of felt. 

Now take the graver and hold it between fore¬ 
finger and thumb, the handle resting in the hollow 
of the palm. Keep the forefinger on the work to 
steady the cut, and hold the metal also with two 
fingers of the left hand. The graver is sloped at 
an angle, as seen in Fig. 3, the point resting on the 
line to be cut, and is pushed gently forward by 
the palm. At first it is sure to slip, and care must 
be taken to avoid cuts, but after a little practice 
one is able to remove a thin shaving along the line. 
Do not attempt to cut right through at once ; prob¬ 
ably two or three cuts will be needed. The secret 
is a keen edge and a very light, steady pressure* 
To sharpen the graver a slip of oilstone is used, 
a few spots of olive oil being rubbed on it. The 
graver is held so that the tiny triangle at the point 
rests perfectly level on the stone, the tool being 

99 


ioo The Boy’s Workshop 



Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 


then rubbed to and fro for a few seconds, and tested 
by nicking the point gently on the thumbnail. 
If blunt it will slip, but when sufficiently sharp it 
will dig in slightly. 

Attention must be given to the “ ties,” or small 
pieces left in to prevent the design falling out or 
breaking. This is evident in the lettering of the 
word “ Fragile ” (Fig. 4), the black portions repre¬ 
senting the parts to be cut out. 

Stencilled monograms (Fig. 5) in very thin 
copper are acceptable presents. Fig. 6 is a decorative 
butterfly, which could be used for many purposes, 
while Fig. 7 is a “ repeat ” pattern for a dado or 
frieze border. 

















FINISHING METALWORK 


"JV/T ANY kinds of metalwork have the advantage 
iVA of requiring but little, if any, finishing. Brass, 
however, being liable to discolour and tarnish, is 
often lacquered. Ordinary hot lacquering is trouble¬ 
some and difficult, but quite as good a result may be 
obtained with cold lacquer, a form of celluloid 
varnish. This can be procured in various kinds 
from the Frederick • Crane Chemical Co., Limited, 
Bordesley Green, Birmingham, and is stocked by 
many dealers. There is a gold-tinted variety which 
causes white metals to resemble brass, while green 
and other colours are also made. The work should 
first be well scrubbed with a hot solution of washing 
soda to remove any greasiness, and rinsed in plain 
cold water. The lacquer may then be applied 
thinly with a soft brush in a warm room, or small 
articles may be dipped in it and hung up. Do not 
go over the same place twice, and if two coats are 
needed, let the first harden thoroughly before applv- 
ing the second. Some celluloid varnishes contain 
an inflammable solvent, so, to be on the safe side, 
keep them ali well corked when not in use, and away 
from any fire or light. 

Another way of finishing small articles is to give 
them a coat of ordinary shellac varnish. With this, 
the work needs warming just sufficiently to remove 
chill before applying. Aniline dyes (spirit-soluble) 
may be dissolved in the varnish to give the" various 
required shades. 


IOI 


io2 The Boy’s Workshop 

A blue or green tinge, for instance, occasionally looks 
well on bronze. 

Ironwork, if black, needs no treatment, save a 
slight rub with oil; but sometimes the effect is 
improved by a coat of black paint thinned with 
turpentine so as to dry dull, or a dead black varnish 
may be used. Gold and aluminium paints are 
occasionally effective. 

Enamelling is a very suitable finish for boxes, 
trays, etc. This scarcely requires explanation, since 
the work resembles ordinary painting. The best 
result is obtained by giving two coats, and, if possible, 
rubbing down the first with very fine glasspaper 
before applying another. Of course, the enamel must 
be absolutely hard before this can be done safely. 

Metalwork with a natural surface mav need 
polishing, though the modern tendency is rather to 
prefer a dull finish. Having obtained as smooth a 
surface as possible with a very fine file, different 
grades of emery, finer and finer by degrees, are 
employed on calico pads, washing each in turn 
away with water. Lastly, fine rouge and putty 
powder may be used on chamois leather to secure 
a high polish. 






Section III.—THE STUDIO 


DRAWING AND PAINTING 


PHIS article does not attempt to teach you how 
-*■ to draw and paint. That pleasant task must 
be left to your teachers at school or college. We are 
concerned rather with telling you how to draw and 
to paint as a hobby, for not every boy’s “ Work that 
is play ” takes the form of labour with hammer or 
saw ! There are many ways in which your pursuit 
of art as a hobby will yield pleasure to your friends 
as well. 

It must be assumed that you have already attained 
some degree of control over your pencil or brush, 
but do not be too ambitious at first. Be content to 
commence with the simpler things, and the harder 
things will be mastered the more easily on that 
account. 

You need not be afraid at first to copy other 
people’s work. You can apply it in so many ways, 
and it will teach you so much. 

You may feel that you do not possess much 
inventive power, but if you practice diligently that 
will come in a more or less degree. We have sug¬ 
gested “ copying ” as a first step. The next step 
might be the adaptation of other work; that is, 
taking it as a help and guidance, but applying it in 
your own way, selecting from it what you want for 
your particular purpose or altering it in shape to 
suit your need. We can explain our meaning best 

103 


104 The Boy’s Workshop 

by a diagram (Fig. 2). You 
have before you, say, a decora¬ 
tive group which you would 
like to use for a panel. But 
your panel is a different shape. 
The figure shows how it may be 
altered to suit your particular 
purpose. That is what is called 
adaptation. Let us suggest a 
few ways in which you can show 
inventive faculty, whilst at the 
same time working upon other 
people’s ideas and expression. 

Greeting Cards .—You can buy at almost any 
stationer’s, or artists’ material shop, cards (corre¬ 
spondence size : the kind with bevelled edges pre¬ 
ferred) with a suitable surface for painting upon. 
Choose some quaint figure or pretty floral or land¬ 
scape “ bit,” and draw it in on your card, “ adapting ” 
if necessary. Then add your own motto and greet¬ 
ing in such a way that the whole design will be well 
conceived. When you have got the entire arrange¬ 
ment to your satisfaction you can proceed to the 
painting stage. Your friends would appreciate these 
hand-painted cards more than the most expensive 
printed ones. 

Wall Calendars .—These are most acceptable pre¬ 
sents for the New Year, and afford delightful occupa¬ 
tion for the Christmas holidays. Buy a sheet of 
water-colour painting board (or a delicately tinted 
card, if you prefer) and cut it up to desired sizes, 
using a very sharp knife and a perfectly straight 
ruler to avoid ragged edges. You can also buy at 



Fig. l 


































The Studio 105 

most stationers small “tear-off” calendars for the 
New Year, which can be pasted down in suitable 
position on your card. This, of course, must be the 
completing touch, but it is mentioned at this stage 
because it must be “ allowed for ” when arranging 
your design ; together with any lettering (including 
the year numeral) which you may wish to add. It 
would be best for the moment to pencil in on your 
card its shape and proposed position. You doubt¬ 
less have by you some favourite flower study, figure 
group, or landscape, which you consider appropriate 
for the purpose, and it will prove a useful tax upon 
your inventive powers to arrange this pictorial part 
in tasteful conjunction with the lettering and calendar 
tablet. You can, if you prefer, let your landscape 
cover your card, but in that case it will be better to 
leave an edging of plain card all round. 

A looser treatment is, however, generally desir¬ 
able : leaving plenty of the card untouched by your 
pictorial group, with the exception possibly of a light 
wash of flat colour as a background (but still leaving 
your plain edging round the card, reinforced, if you 
like, by a simple line). This looser treatment is called 
“ vignetting,” and 
looks more artistic 
than a filled-up 
picture. You may 
not satisfy yourself 
at the first attempt, 
and, gaining by the 
experience, you can 
start again on a 

fresh card, with, let Fig. 2 


























































106 The Boy’s Workshop 

us hope, a better result. (That is an additional 
reason why you should not stick down your 
calendar until the last stage.) Now you have 
everything complete except the dainty ribbon at 
the top for hanging up your artistic effort (Fig. 1). 

Painting White Wood Work .—This is a favourite 
and useful field of art work, and if you go to a good 
artists’ material shop you can buy all sorts of ready¬ 
made things in white wood ready for decoration by 
the amateur. Appropriate decorative designs are 
often outlined upon them—thereby saving you 
trouble and probably worry—and you only have to 
do the colouring. You will find that you have a 
good choice of objects available—bookshelves, cake- 
trays, medicine cabinets, bowls, stools, chairs ; and 
even smaller things like inkstands, photo-frames, 
serviette rings, etc. Any of these make splendid 
presents when decorated. Stains are best for this 
class of work, and can be purchased. They have 
the advantage of being indelible. You can use 
water-colours if you like for objects that are not 
much handled. Oil-colours can also be used if you 
have learnt that branch of painting. There is a very 
useful book published on “ Marqueterie Staining ” 
which will give you valuable information on the use 
of stains and how to polish your object after you 
have completed your work ; it contains all sorts of 
valuable hints, and, in addition, many actual designs. 

Of course, a greater demand is made upon your 
ability when you decide to decorate the plain wood 
in your own w r ay. Conventional decoration is gener¬ 
ally best for this kind of work, but floral groups for 
the centres of a cake-tray would be very pleasing. 





The Studio 


107 


Do not feel too much bound by what others do. As 
an example we give a sketch of a medicine cabinet 
for the decoration of which the artist took for in¬ 
spiration the lines : 

He shall be to thee like the sea, 

And thou shalt surely feel 
His wind that bloweth healthily 
Thy sicknesses to heal. 

Fig. 3 shows how the central panel was treated. 
Figures embellished the side panels, but as these 
might be diffi- 


• 

First Z lines of quotation here 



r 

V J 



Wf-bC 





$ 



% 

/ - 

1^ \ 





p 

lUssj 

Completion of quotation here 



Fi*. 3 


cult vertical 
bits of cliffs 
and sea would 
be quite as 
suitable. What¬ 
ever the nature 
of the design 
you will be 
well advised 
in trying it 

first of all on paper in the same scale as your 

requirements and experiment again and again if 
necessary with your colour scheme. Once your 

colour is on the wood it is there for good or 

ill. . . t 

To speak generally of “ choice of design, 1 

cannot do better than quote from the book I have 

mentioned : . 

44 More work is marred by over-decoration than 

by want of it. Few amateur artists realize the 

value of plain spaces and simple lines. It is a 

mistake to imagine that when decorating a box 



































108 The Boy’s Workshop 

it is necessary to cover all the sides with patterns. 
The aim should be to concentrate the eye on the 
central subject, and do not confuse it by giving 
the idea that it has been indiscriminately peppered 
with pattern.” 

That is sound advice, equally applicable to other 
things than white wood work. 

Chip Carving , and Poker Work. —These are, of 
course, other methods of decorating wood surfacesj 
and cheap illustrated manuals for amateurs can be 
bought, containing full particulars of the necessary 
tools and how to use them. 

Stencil Work. —A repeated design on a mantel 
cloth or at the bottom of a casement curtain is most 
attractive. You can buy beautiful stencil designs 
for 9d. or Is. each, and pigments in bottles already 
prepared for your use, with full instructions. 

There is really no limit to the ways in which you 
can give practical outlet to your talent. You will 
think of many ways for yourself. 

We have now gone a considerable way and have 
touched, all too briefly, upon fields of work that should 
yield an infinite amount of pleasure to those who 
possess even a moderate amount of ability. The 
remainder of the article will be devoted to those who 
may be feeling that they want to express themselves 
in a more original way. They want to be able to do 
things from which they can stand back and say, 
“ There, that is really my own work in conception, 
as well as in workmanship.” 

Draughtsmanship. —You can never succeed with 
advanced work until you have learnt to “ draw.” 
Your teachers would always tell you this. A badly 








The Studio 109 

drawn figure or object would always look bad, how¬ 
ever charmingly it might be coloured. On the 
other hand, a thing that is well drawn would com¬ 
mend itself even if indifferently coloured. It is 
sheer waste of time to scurry over the preliminary 
work in a wild desire to get on to the painting. Try 
and check such tendencies if you have them and 
don’t think it beneath you to spend the major part 
of your time, if necessary, in getting your forms 
correctly. Fair flesh upon a twisted skeleton could 
never look anything but revolting. Remember the 
long years which our great artists spent in learning 
to draw, studying painstakingly, and almost pain¬ 
fully, the proper presentation of form. Had they 
failed in this they never would have become great 
artists. Even in your modest way you will do no 
good work unless you are content to spend all the 
necessary time in getting your groundwork correctly 
and convincingly before hurrying on to the more 
showy side of your efforts. 

Colour .—There is no “ royal road ” to the mastery 
of colour, but we can all try our best in the hope 
of arriving sooner or later at our destination. The 
colour sense is really a gift in itself and can only be 
briefly touched upon here. Nature is always a good 
schoolmaster, and your best plan at first is to try 
and copy the colour you see around you, as faithfully 
as you possibly can. To this end, make experi¬ 
ments in the mixing of colour in order to arrive at 
the varying values of greens, greys, etc. Record 
your experiments on sheets of painting paper, noting 
against each result the colours you have used. It is 
best to have only a restricted set of colours in your 









no The Boy’s Workshop 

box, and your artists’ colourman ought to be able 
to advise you. Every artist has his own preferences, 
but you will find the following list to be one that has 
stood practical test, and will yield you all the effects 
and combinations you will want : 

Yellows .—Chrome yellow (light); chrome yellow 
(orange); yellow ochre. 

Reds. —Vermilion, alizarin crimson. 

Blues. —Cobalt, ultramarine, Prussian or Ant¬ 
werp, mauve, raw umber, burnt sienna. 

There is no better method 
for learning the mysteries 
and qualities of colour than 
still-life painting. Arrange 
in your room a simple group 
of objects to copy (being 
careful to include nothing 
that fades or shrivels). The 
lighting of the subject will 
not change—a very essential 
condition. The objects you 
choose should have a pleasant but not glaring 
contrast of colour, say a brass salver or tray, a 
blue porcelain vase and two or three apples (Fig. 4). 
Place a screen of light flat tone behind the group 
—which by the way should be lighted from the side 
and not from the front. Now set to work and do 
your utmost to match the colours you see. It 
will be splendid practice for you, and after one or 
two such studies you will find that you have acquired 
a much truer eye for colour than you had before. 

In approaching the more ambitious and difficult 
direction of work it must be assumed that you have 










The Studio 


hi 



Fig. 5a 


definitely made up your mind that 
the presentment of form is the first 
essential. It is mainly from that 
point of view that the following 
topics are dealt with. 

Flower Painting .—Don’t skip 
this section with the caustic remark 
that “flower painting is for girls! ” 

It is true that they possess a deli¬ 
cacy of touch and a sense of charm 
that is sometimes foreign to our masculine nature. 
But it is the privilege of every young artist to try and 
seize, and transfer on to paper, the beauty that we 
see all around us, and we should neglect nothing 
that helps us along our artistic path. If you want 
to realize your ignorance in the matter of colour sit 
down in your room some summer afternoon and try 
and reproduce the glory of a spray of delicate pink 
roses. You must—as always—start with the simpler 
forms first. Pin a flower and its leaf on to a stiff piece 
of paper and place it upright in front of you, in a side 
lighting. Pencil in the general forms first and see 
that you get them correctly. A good plan is to 

“block in” the general shapes first 
and the general lie of the stem in 
the way shown on the diagram 
(Fig. 5a) in order to get the right 
relations of one part to another 
and the sense of natural growth ; 
and when doing this be sure that 
you mark accurately the position 
of the centre of the flower and 
Fig. 5b the central lines of the leaves. 






ii2 The Boy’s Workshop 

This done it will be comparatively easy for you to 
get the petal forms and the serrated leaf edges true 
to life (Fig 5b). Having satisfied yourself with your 
outline do not start yet with the colouring. With a 
darker pencil than the one you have been using 
shade in as truthfully as possible the lights and 
shadows of each part. You will not find this easy, 
for you will find a surprising variety of gradation of 
tone in every part, with baffling glints of light on 
the surfaces, not to speak of the transparent qualities 
of the flower petals. When you have satisfied your¬ 
self that you have now made a fair copy of your 
object, then—and only then—you should try and 
match the colouring. Trace your outline down upon 
a fresh piece of (painting) paper and do your best. 
Keep your finished pencil study in front of you for 
reference as to tone values. Your first colour 
attempt will probably be a failure, but you will have 
learnt something from it and will know where and 
how you have gone wrong. You will now want to 
tackle a more difficult subject, say an entire spray. 
You should follow the same procedure. After that 
you could attempt something for framing. You 
have, of course, the whole garden to choose from, 
but there is nothing more beautiful for our purpose 
than roses; they are so beautiful in themselves and 
so graceful and free in their growth. Sprays of the 
cream and pink varieties nicely arranged in an 
antique vase against a cool background would make 
a delightful picture. You have an infinite choice of 
subjects. The selection of the accessories and the 
“ setting ” of the grouping will afford a true test of 
your artistic taste. 














114 The Boy’s Workshop 

Landscape Work .—There is no study which yields 
such general delight to amateurs as landscape draw¬ 
ing and painting. It inculcates, among many things, 
a love for Nature. That is an ideal that no healthily- 
minded boy need be ashamed to acknowledge. It 
looks so easy to paint a landscape and yet it is so 
difficult. Once again you must be content to walk 
before trying to run. To start by sitting down in 
front of some extended view and trying to paint it 
would be to court disaster. You must be content at 
first to take out your pencil and sketch-book, and 
to leave your colour-box at home. If you have the 
artistic eye you will see many things in a day’s 
excursion that you will want to record. Restrict 
yourself to simple things—such as a broken stile, a 
picturesque barn or cottage, an old bridge over a 
stream, an ivy-covered pillar, broken-down palings, 
a group of boulders on the beach, a rugged cliff and 
a bit of sea, and so on. It is surprising what charm¬ 
ing pencil sketches can be made of such simple sub¬ 
jects, and how one treasures them afterwards for 
their own sake and as mementoes of delightful days 
spent in the open. 

Don’t you love trees ? They are among the most 
wonderful things on God’s earth, and you must learn 
to draw them if you ever hope to succeed in landscape 
work. What hopeless ignorance some amateurs 
show in their tree-work! They think that any¬ 
thing is good enough for a tree—a few daubs of the 
brush and there you are ! No thought of the form 
or natural growth. Every kind of tree has its own 
character. We know this in theory, but often for¬ 
get it when we have our pencil or brush in our hand. 





The Studio 115 

Like our own bodies the tree form is built upon a 
skeleton. So, as a first step, you cannot do better 
on warm spring days than make studies when the 
trees are without their foliage or only in bud. Even 
in winter you can sit at your window and draw the 
naked trees in your garden. Then when the leaves 
unfold themselves in all their luxuriance, study how 
the foliage masses itself—it will necessarily conform 
to the skeleton forms of branch and twig. It will 
be useful for you to make careful pencil studies of 
various kinds of trees, taking care to get their right 



Fig. 7 


proportions and characteristics of form. The dia¬ 
grams (Fig. 6) give a hint of the infinite variety 
of tree forms so familiar to us, and yet so often un¬ 
realized to the full when we come to draw them. 

And then the wonder of the clouds. Have }jpu 
ever thought of the great part the sky takes in our 
little world, especially in the case of those who have 
the joy of living in the country ? You learn at school 
all about cirrus and cumulus, stratus and nimbus, 
but they are only the principal forms and they often 
are seen in amazing combinations or contrasts. So 
when you go for a walk take your sketch-book with 
you and make pencil jottings of any fine cloud forms 
or effects you see. This will prove very useful later 
on when you advance to more difficult studies. 
























n6 The Boy’s Workshop 

Now that you have tried to master the component 
parts of what we call a picture you will be better 
prepared to undertake more ambitious w r ork by the 
use of the knowledge you have acquired. You will 
see many things that will attract you for painting, 
but you may not be able to make up your mind as to 
the exact portion of the view that will make the most 
satisfactory composition. A good plan is to carry 
with you a small card (Fig. 7) say about 8 in. by 5 in., 
with the central part cut away (a). When in doubt 
as to which section of your view would yield the best 
result shift the card about in front of your eye in 
different directions until you are satisfied. If you 
want to try how your subject would look in upright 
form you have only to turn your card accordingly. 
Then you can set to work. We cannot deal here 
with the laws of composition, but one or two leading 
principles can be mentioned. Try to avoid getting 
any big object right in the centre of your picture (b) 
—that never looks satisfactory. It is always better 
to get it on one side (c). Another thing : never 
choose a subject with lines running only in one 
consistent direction (Fig. 8). There should always 
be lines in opposing directions to “ balance” the com¬ 
position. The feeling for such things will come with 
practice, and you can always do much to correct the 
lines of your picture by your choice of the cloud forms 
(your studies of clouds will come in usefully here). 

As to the painting of landscape you will not be 
content to deny yourself that joy, and if we have for 
the time being kept you back from attempting it too 
hastily, you will find that your structural work has 
been all to the good, and, indeed, was necessary to 






The Studio 


117 


real success. You cannot do better than copy as 
faithfully as you can the exact colours of Nature ; 
you will have many difficulties to solve : fortunately 
for us all we learn by experience, and if we tackle 
one difficulty with courage and cheerfulness, the 
next one will be found the easier to surmount because 
of our determined efforts. In any case, remember 
that tone is an essential part of colour work, and you 
must try to get the correct values that one part 
of your picture bears to another. 

If you half close your eyes you 
will find that almost invariably 
the sky is much lighter than the 
landscape. What would otherwise 
be good work is often spoilt by a 
neglect of this truth. Again, you 
will generally find that your fore¬ 
grounds should be the strongest 
part of your picture. A dark belt 
of trees in the middle distance may 
look very dark, but it is really not 
as dark as you think. Always aim at getting the 
open-air effect, and try to realize how the softening 
qualities of the atmosphere affect all parts of the 
picture, the distance particularly. 

The altering effects of light and shade on a land¬ 
scape prove very baffling to the amateur, and in a 
long sitting it will come home to you how quickly 
the sun moves across the sky, affecting your shadows 
and other things. Don’t try to keep up with the 
sun. It is better to reserve one subject for the 
morning and another for the afternoon, and then 
your difficulties would be halved. 








n8 The Boy’s Workshop 

Figure Drawing .—This is one of 
the most difficult forms of art, in¬ 
volving years of academic study. 
But you will want to be able to 
draw the human figure at least 
without discredit. The introduc¬ 
tion of a figure in a landscape is 
often of the greatest value. It 
provides a telling “ point ” in the 
picture, and helps to settle the re¬ 
lation of things. The correct draw¬ 
ing of either a figure or a face 
depends primarily upon the rightness of the pro¬ 
portions. In a face the features must be correctly 
placed in regard to the whole head. In a figure, the 
head, the torso and the limbs must be accurately 
related. 

There are certain rules that you can follow, 
although they are not invariable. We are not all 
built quite on the same plan, and we can only treat 
of what is accepted as the ideal. The ancients put 
their ideal high in order to secure grace and dignity, 
and in their statuary made the head bear the relation 
of 1 to 8 of the entire body, 
whereas in practical test we 
find the relation to be 1 to 
7|, or even 1 to 7 in the case 
of people of stunted growth. 

Again, in the case of young 
children the head is much 
larger in relation to the body 
than in the case of the adult. 

But in a general w r ay you will 




























The Studio 119 


be safe in adop¬ 
ting the following 
scales of measure¬ 
ment. Dividing 
the body length 
into eight parts, 
the head will oc¬ 
cupy one division, ^ 

and the other 
points of division will be as indicated in the diagram. 
Thus the half length will be at a point running across 
the hips (Fig. 9). When the arms are extended 
they make practically the same measurement as the 
body length. The body in this position would be 
contained in an exact square (Fig. 10). 

The following hints will be useful to you in draw¬ 
ing heads. The normal head (side view) also takes 
the proportions of a square (Fig. 11). The position 
of the ear is often a source of uncertainty. The 
diagram will give you a rule to work by. If you 
divide your square horizontally and vertically, the 




point of dissection would, of course, be the centre of 
the square. That central point—that is, the exact 
centre of the square—marks for you the orifice of the 
ear. The ear itself would lie immediately to the 


right of the verti- 
would coincide in 
the nose, as shown 
In drawing the 
head it will be safe 
tire depth from 
point (not the base 
is often a quite 



Fig. 13 


cal line, and it 
depth with that of 
in the diagram, 
front view of a 
to divide the en- 
crown to chin 
of the chin which 
different thing!) 
























120 The Boy’s Workshop 

by four equal spaces (see Fig. 12). The point (1) 
would mark what is usually the line of the hair— 
although that must be subject to observation as 
some people have high and others low foreheads. 
The central point (2) would fix the position of 
the eyes, and (3) that of the base of the nose. The 
eye usually occupies one-fifth of the whole width of 
the face, as shown in Fig. 13. 





HOW TO MAKE A PANTAGRAPH 


T HE pantagraph for enlarging drawings, shown 
by Fig. 1, is made up of four strips of hard 
wood, such as ebony or box, three of them 1 ft. 4 in. 
long by 1 in. wide by J in. thick, and one the same 
width and thickness by 10 in. long. For copying 
larger drawings these dimensions may be increased. 
The point a is attached to the drawing-board by means 
of a screw joint (Fig. 2). This may be made by taking 
an ordinary fine wood screw, filing off the head, and 
casting a cylinder of metal b about § in. in diameter 
by \ in. long with about § in. of the thread of the 
screw protruding through the lower portion. This 
may be turned in the lathe to the pattern shown, and 
the top can be screwed with a brass thread and fitted 
with a milled nut c. The joints at d, e and f (Fig. 1) 
are pivoted with the bolts shown by Fig. 3. This may 
be turned in the lathe from a piece of f-in. brass rod, 
screwed at the top, and fitted with a similar nut at 
g as was used at c (Fig. 2). The lower portion H is 
rounded to slide easily over the paper. The bolt 
shown in Fig. 4 is used at j (Fig. 1) as a joint and car¬ 
rier for the pointer, and at k for the pencil point when 
enlarging a drawing. When it is required to reduce 
the scale of a drawing, the positions of the pointer 
and pencil are reversed. In this the lower portion 
l (Fig. 4) may be turned from a piece of brass rod 
and drilled through for the pencil or bone pointer. 
The bottom part is sawn half through both ways, and 
fitted "with a fine screw as shown at m for the purpose 


121 


i22 The Boy’s Workshop 


of holding the pencil or pointer firmly. The upper 
portion is screwed and fitted with a nut n to serve the 
same purpose as the nuts c and g. 

When enlarging a drawing, the pointer is inserted 
at j and a compass pencil at k. The left hand is used 
at j to guide the pointer over the outline of the drawing 
to be copied, whilst the right hand gently presses on 
the point k as the pencil traces the enlargement. 

In altering the positions of the joints at D and f, 
the pins must be placed in corresponding holes on 
each bar, which should have numbers stamped mark¬ 
ing the holes 2, 3, 4, etc., away from the joint in the 
direction shown in Fig. 1, and if the pin is moved to 
the second or third hole on one bar, it must be placed 
on the corresponding holes on the others. The posi¬ 
tions of these holes will vary according to the size of 
the instrument, but a scale of proportion may be set 
out by setting up the instrument, moving J hori¬ 
zontally, and noticing the movement of k, and from 
this arrangement the holes may be made for the 
desired proportional scale of enlargement. 















SIMPLE PAPIER MACHE WORK 


O NE way of making papier mach^ is to soak 
sheets of paper till limp, press out the 
water, and paste them singly over a well - oiled 
block or mould, rubbing down well until sufficiently 
thick. 

Fig. 1 shows a handy tray, formed by pasting 
softened paper over a flat wooden block (Fig. 2), 
rounded at the edges. After careful removal from 
the block, the tray must be left to harden slowly. 
Fig. 3, a pin or ash bowl, is formed on a round block. 
For the artistic vase (Fig. 4), a block somewhat like 
a skittle is used, the ornament being impressed with 
a blunt point. 

Another method is to soak pieces of paper till 
quite soft, then squeeze out most of the water and 
boil the paper in a saucepan till pulpy, adding some 
glue size and 
a little whit¬ 
ing, and stir¬ 
ring together 
till a thick 
mass results. 

This can be 
moulded to 
almost any 
shape. 

The flower 
bowl (Fig. 5) 
may be 




Fi & 6 


Fig 5 




Fi g 4 


Fi g 


Fig 2 



F,g 7 


Fig 3 


123 
























124 The Boy’s Workshop 

moulded on an empty honey jar covered with oiled 
tissue paper, the fluting being done with a spoon 
handle. The round tray (Fig. 6) is first moulded on 
a wooden disc, and, when partly hardened, the small 
circles are impressed with a curtain and a napkin 
ring, the large one being made with a saucer. The 
star and the shading lines are drawn with a blunt 
point. Fig. 7 shows moulded ornament applied over 
an ordinary penholder. 

Papier mache can be painted any colour or merely 
varnished ; if the latter it must be sized first. 







COLOURED PAPER TRANSPARENCIES 


S MALL windows having unsightly outlooks may 
be decorated with designs of coloured paper 
suitably treated, or photographs and drawings may 
be prepared for window decoration in practically the 
same way. In principle the method is that of making 
coloured papers translucent and attaching them to 
glass or to the backs of pictures, the latter also being 
made translucent. 

All coloured papers are not suitable. Thin and 
rather highly coloured samples should be chosen, and 
only transparent colours. Some coloured papers do 
not show a good colour when viewed by transmitted 
light, i.e. looked through, and as this process depends 
entirely upon the transparency of colour, only 
those colours showing well when held up to the light 
and looked through should be used. 

Coloured papers, as purchased, are chiefly for 
viewing by reflected light and rather opacpie, and it 
is necesssary to make them more transparent or, 
more correctly speaking, translucent, as oiling or 
greasing would do, but crude oils or greases are not 
the proper things to use. 

The best medium, and one that gives the most 
lasting and most effective results, is a solution made 
by dissolving § oz. of Canada balsam in 2 or 3 oz. of 
turpentine or benzine. Paper soaked in this is made 
to take up a beautiful translucent effect specially 
suitable for looking through. The crystal-like effect 
goes off in time if air or heat is allowed to get to 

125 


126 The Boy’s Workshop 

the picture, in which case some more solution may be 
applied, but, as we shall see, it is an easy matter to 
put the coloured picture between two glasses, in which 
place it will remain good for a generation. 

Take a plain photograph or drawing needing only 
simple colours (as a), or ordinary black-and-white 
pictures may be used if there is no letterpress on the 
back. Cut out the coloured papers according to the 
outlines of the picture, using, of course, suitable 
colours. Soak the picture with the translucing mix¬ 
ture given above, lay it carefully and without airbells 
on a sheet of plain glass and “ dab ” down flat with 
a rag. The picture at this stage, when held up to the 
light, should be seen clearly from either side. 

Next soak the coloured pieces of paper in the 
mixture, drain them, and lay on the back of the 
picture (as b), where they will stick because of the 
tacky nature of the medium. The pieces must, of 
course, be fitted over the parts of the picture they 
are intended to colour. 

If the picture now be held up to the light, glass or 
picture side nearest the observer, and looked through, 
a nicely tinted transparency for a window will be 
seen. We see the original picture first, and the 

coloured paper 
showing through 
it—thanks to 
the translucing 
solution—give 
the objects the 
necessary tints. 

Another 
piece of glass, 














































The Studio 127 

the same size as the first piece, may now be put 
over the back (on which the coloured papers are), 
and the whole lot bound together around the edges 
with glued black tape or paper strips. When hung 
in a window the original picture must face inside 
the room, as it is the picture the observer must 
see and not the coloured patches of paper on the 
back. Obviously, the more simple the subject 
treated the better, because of the large patches of 
colour and the ease of cutting and arranging. 

One need not, of course, 
use a picture as a base for the 
coloured papers. The latter 
may be cut to diamond and 
other shapes, soaked in the 
translucing solution and ar¬ 
ranged upon a small ordinary 
window as fancy dictates. 

The sketch c shows a suit¬ 
able pattern for this kind of 
work. Very narrow strips of 
black paper may be used to cover up the joints 
and to imitate “ leads ” as used in proper stained 
glass window work. Without a covering glass the 
window will last a long time, but it so soon gets 
dirty, and in order to make a really good and 
lasting job of it, the work should be covered by 
another piece of glass, which may be fitted into the 
window and fixed in a convenient manner, prefer¬ 
ably a fraction of an inch from the paper, so as 
not to touch it. If the covering glass touches the 
treated paper it will stick and cannot be removed, 
the Canada balsam being a laboratory adhesive. 



A Window Transparency 









HOW TO MAKE CARDBOARD STENCILS 


P LEASING stencils for wall decorations, etc., 
may be cut in stiff, glazed wrapping paper or 
thin Bristol board. Fig. 1 shows an easy design for 
a frieze, which looks well stencilled in dark blue on a 
medium blue ground. Enlarge it to the desired size 
by dividing into squares and copying into larger 
squares marked on the material. Cut out the black 
portions with a sharp penknife, carefully avoiding 
the “ ties,” or small pieces holding parts of the pattern 
together. Fig. 2 is a border to put below the frieze. 
It may be dark blue on a cream ground. An improve¬ 
ment is to cut two stencils from it, one with the black 
parts only, and the other with the shaded parts. 
The border can then be done in two shades or colours. 

For applying, use a stencil brush (Fig. 3), obtain¬ 
able from an artists’ colourman, with water-colour, 
having a little gum added. The stencil is adjusted 

with one 
hand over 
the surface 
to be treated, 
the brush 
being dipped 
in the colour, 
keeping i t 
fairly dry, 
and then 
dabbed over 
the stencil. 


znmmmmmm wjnju/n/w/77im 



r <»2 

128 



















SIMPLE ETCHING ON METAL 


T O etch a name or initials on the small plate of a 
penknife, take a piece of hard wax, warm the 
knife, and rub the wax over the plate until a very 
thin layer forms over it. Then make a raised bank 
of wax round the plate to hold the acid, as shown in 
Fig. 1. Fix a needle in the handle, or purchase an 
etching needle (Fig. 2), obtainable at some artists 
supply stores. With the needle, scratch the inscrip¬ 
tion through the wax. Now pour nitric acid gradu¬ 
ally into about three times as much water, and put 
a little on the plate, taking care not to get any on the 
skin or clothes and to avoid the fumes. The etching 
will soon be deep enough, when the acid may be poured 
away, the knife rinsed well, and the wax removed. 
To etch a name on a steel tool, coat the required 

part with 


wax and 
bank up the 
margin as in 
Fig. 3. Then 



Fi 0 I 


Fig 5 


use 

needle 

etch, 

with 


the 

and 

either 

nitric 


acid as be¬ 
fore, or with 
a solution 
consisting of 




-«=E5BI 


Fig.2 


F.g.4 



Fig 3 


I 


129 




















130 The Boy’s Workshop 

one ounce of iron perchloride dissolved in about 
two tablespoonfuls of water. Either nitric acid or 
iron perchloride will etch brass and copper, but 
for these metals, the latter is preferable. Fig. 4 is 
an effective design for a brass finger-plate. 

For silver articles, use more dilute nitric acid. 

Fig. 5 shows how to etch a monogram on a silver 
walking-stick mount. 

Where much work is to be done, Brunswick 
black is a better “ ground ” than wax, but is more 
troublesome to remove. 





PLASTER CASTS 


T3LASTER casts of medals and coins may be 
easily and cheaply taken. Duplicates may 
also be made, but it is not advisable to publish the 
processes as they are unhappily made wrong use of 
by counterfeiters. The one we are about to describe 
permits of no harm being done, it forms a pleasant 
pastime, and is largely used by those who have won 
medals and wish to make passable replicas of them 
for framing, as few people frame the real thing. 
Most, if not all, of the large frames of medals we see 
in shop windows are imitations. 

The only materials required are some oil—olive 
or sweet oil preferred—and some plaster of paris. 
The latter should be of the best and finest kind it is 
possible to get. The plaster sold at most oilshops is 
rather coarse, and, although it will serve, the better 
quality—as used by Italian makers of images—should 
be used if possible, as it gives the finer details and 
more perfect results. 

The first thing to do is to well oil the side of the 
medal to be copied, the oil being rubbed well into 
the finer details with a camel-hair brush or a feather, 
and then wiped with cotton rag or a soft rag. No 
oil must be allowed to collect, as all that is required 
is the finest coating of oil in order to prevent the 
plaster sticking when it is poured on to the medal. 
Lay the oiled medal on to a flat surface, say a plate, 
and surround the medal with a piece of thin cardboard 
or stout paper. This “ wall ” should be J in. high, 

131 



132 


The Boy’s Workshop 


and where it over- 
of sealing wax is 
place. We thus 
the medal forming 
cardboard the sides. 



laps a drop or two 
put to keep it in its 
have a kind of dish, 
the bottom and the 
This “ dish ” must 


now be partly filled with plaster of paris properly 
mixed. 

To mix plaster for this kind of work put some water 
into a cup and sprinkle some plaster into it. The 
latter will sink to the bottom, and when this happens 
the superfluous water is poured off, the plaster cream 
left at the bottom is worked up with a stick, or, 
better still, a wooden spoon. A little of the cream is 
poured upon the medal and pressed into the finer 
parts with a stiff brush, after which more plaster cream 
is poured in until the top of the card wall is nearly 
reached. This must be done gently so as to avoid 
bubbles forming. 

The whole thing—which may be called a mould— 
is then put on one side to set. Plaster of paris sets 
very quickly, and becomes hard in anything from five 
to thirty minutes. 

The addition of sugar to a plaster cream makes it 
dry slower and of a softer nature, while the addi¬ 
tion of powdered alum makes it harder. Neither of 
these little tricks of the trade will be necessary if the 
amateur works carefully. 

When quite set the card wall is taken away and 
the mould is lifted from the medal; it comes away 
easily if the medal is properly oiled at the start. 

In the mould everything is, of course, reversed, 
and all one has to do is to work with it as with the 
medal. Oil the surface of the mould well and wipe 








The Studio 133 


off the superfluous oil. The same kind of oil serves 
very well, but boiled oil gives a little better result. 
Put the card wall around it and fill with plaster 
cream, allow to set and lift off. If the surface of the 
mould has been properly oiled, and wiped free from 
oil, there will be no danger of the cast sticking. One 
thus gets a replica in plaster, which may be finished 
off in many ways, or, of course, it may be left as it is. 

The back of the model is carefully shaved down 
with a penknife until it is of the required thickness. 
It may then be enamelled or treated with the bronze, 
silver or gold paints or powders sold at the oilshops. 
The simplest plan of finishing off a silvered result for 
framing is to cover it with tinfoil or silver paper, 
such as some cigarettes are packed in. The paper can 
be stuck and pressed on the plaster copy in such a way 
as to make a perfect copy, which will look like the 
real thing when framed. The mould, if well oiled, 
will serve for scores of copies; as a change a wax cast 
may be made from it, if desired, by simply pouring 
upon it melted-up candle ends—a very economical 

material ! 










A SIMPLE DRAWING APPARATUS 


I T is easy to make a drawing apparatus by means 
of which pictures of any small objects can be 
produced even if one has no skill with the pencil. 
For the purpose procure a piece of wood ; this might 
be 2 ft. long, and 10 or 12 in. in width. Now obtain 
a sheet of glass which is the same width as the board 
and about half the length. This is to be supported 
in an upright position in the centre of the board. 
The best way of doing this is to cut four small pieces 
of thick wood of the shape shown. Two of these 
are glued or fixed with screws at each side of the 
board in the middle. A small space should be left 
in between the wooden supports for the glass. 

The manner of using the drawing apparatus is as 
follows. On one side of the sheet of glass the object 
to be drawn is placed. The sheet of paper is put 
on the other side. The draughtsman stands or sits 
at the end of the board where the object has been 
rested. He then sees a reflection of the object in the 
glass and the image appears to be cast upon the 
paper. Holding the pencil round the outside of this 
glass it is an easy matter to sketch just what one 
sees on the paper, and in this way, the picture 


is secured. As drawn 
picture will be reversed, 
the right way by making 
ing with the apparatus 


with this apparatus the 
It may be brought round 
a copy of the first draw- 
on the lines described. 



134 







Section IV.—THE ENGINEERING SHOP 


WORK WITH THE FILE 

■ AILES are made in different grades of roughness 
or fineness, according to the number of teeth 
per inch, and in varying sizes. They may be flat, 
half-round, round, triangular, or curved (see Figs. 
1 to 5), and may have either single rows of parallel 
cuts, or double rows crossing each other. Handles 
(Fig. 6), sold separately, should be fitted to them. 

To remove a quantity of metal quickly, a large, 
rough file is employed, smoothing and finishing 
being done with increasingly fine files. 

Work is best fixed in a vice, at about the height 
of the elbow. A bench vice is necessary for large 
work, but for small things the type of vice shown 
by Fig. 7 is quite satisfactory. Force should be 
put principally on the forward stroke, and the 
direction of filing changed occasionally. A rounded 


Fig. 1 



Fig. 4 


















136 The Boy’s Workshop 



or curved file needs to be rotated slightly as well 
as pushed. 

The file may often be used for simple decorative 
work, such, for instance, as forming a bevelled edge 
(Fig. 8). Ornamental ends to rods may be made, 
as in Fig. 9, by filing a recess ; while by working 
carefully round the top in addition, it can be con¬ 
verted into a ball, as in Fig. 10. 

An exercise in neat work with a small file consists 
of making a square hole from a circular one already 
bored, by filing out four square corners, as indicated 
by the dotted lines in Fig. 11. 

To file a large flat surface perfectly smooth is 
very difficult, and should not be attempted until 
some practice has been gained. Curiously enough, 
when such a surface is nearly levelled, small in¬ 
equalities are best removed with a half-round or 
a curved file, which are not in contact with so much 
metal at a time as a flat file, so that the amount 
removed is more easily controlled. 

It is often handy to replace a lost street-door 
key. When a duplicate is available, this can readily 
be done. Obtain a key blank (Fig. 12), the same size, 
as far as possible, and fasten this side by side with 
the pattern in the vice, as in Fig. 13. The wards 
can then be cut with a fine and very thin file, or, 





















The Engineering Shop 137 

if preferred, part of the work may be done with a 
metal-cutting fretsaw. Be particular while doing 
this not to file or saw away any of the pattern. 
Another method is to mark the blank from the 
pattern, and to fix the blank alone in the vice, 
when one can work with greater freedom. 

Dirty and clogged files may be cleaned by soak¬ 
ing in a hot solution of washing soda and rubbing 
with a stiff brush, rinsing afterwards with cold 
water. Special wire brushes are obtainable for 
this purpose. 






NUTS AND BOLTS 


N UTS and bolts are extremely useful in all kinds 
of ways, both for permanent and temporary 
fastenings. They are particularly handy as a sub¬ 
stitute for soldering, and for many purposes are 
superior. 

Numerous patterns and sizes are obtainable. 
The most familiar description is the hexagonal nut 
and bolt (Fig. 1), suitable where strength is wanted 
and hard wear likely. The smaller portion or nut 
has to be screwed up tight with a spanner (Fig. 2) 
that fits it. It is necessary to hold the end, or head, 
of the bolt while turning the nut, which is mostly 
done by means of a second spanner, and if both 
sides of the work cannot be reached at once, the 
assistance of another person is wanted. As a sub¬ 
stitute for a spanner, a bicycle wrench (Fig. 3) is 
often invaluable, since it can be adjusted to suit 
almost any size of nut. Very small nuts, on light 
work, may, however, usually be tightened by hand. 

The screw-bolt (Fig. 4) has a slot in the head, 
which enables it to be held, or tightened up, with 
a screwdriver. 

The winged or butterfly nut (Fig. 5) is easily 
tightened with the fingers, and is convenient in 
cases where an article has occasionally to be taken 
to pieces, or its adjustment altered. Very often 
this pattern of bolt has a square portion near the 
rounded head, as seen in the illustration, and a 
square opening is then cut in the work to fit this, 

138 


The Engineering Shop 139 

thus preventing the bolt from turning while screwing 
on the nut. 

There are also circular nuts with a milled rim, 
to be secured by hand, and sundry kinds of locking 
nuts, intended to overcome the likelihood of working 
loose where vibration occurs. A thin metal washer 
(Fig. 6), placed under the ordinary nut, may also 
be used for this purpose, though not so efficient. 
It serves, in addition, to reduce wear on the surface 
where the nut presses. 

Bolts and nuts are especially serviceable for 
putting together a metal framework, and many 
things may be made in this way. If strips of fairly 
stout sheet metal are bent at a right angle, as shown 
by Fig. 7, they gain considerably in strength. This 
is the principle of the angle iron used by builders 
and engineers. Then, by drilling or boring holes 
where required to receive the bolts, the strips can 
be built up into almost any desired form. Fig. 8 
shows how a corner may be put together, as may 
be wanted for frames, small openings for doors, 
windows, etc. Fig. 9 illustrates a double rectangular 
joint, which could be used for a light structure, such 
as a poultry-house or run. Outdoor metalwork of 
this kind will, of course, need painting. 

Where rigidity is called for, triangles should be 
introduced into the construction. Fig. 10 shows 
the manner in which a triangle is bolted together. 
It is worth mentioning that right-angled triangles 
make useful brackets. 

Flat strips of metal can be formed into a trellis, 
by crossing them to make a diamond pattern and 
securing with nuts and bolts at the ends alone. 






140 The Boy’s Workshop 



Fig. 1 Fig. 5 



Fig. 2 



Fig. 3 


© 
Fig. 6 






Small round-headed bolts and nuts are very 
handy for mending articles of hardware not intended 
to hold water. Thus, a patch can be put on the 
bottom of a coal-scuttle or dust-bin, as shown by 
Fig. 11, or a new handle can be secured to a saucepan 
lid. 


























RIVETING 


R IVETS are used to fasten pieces of metal together 
when they do not need to be taken apart again, 
the rivets being cheaper than screws or bolts, and not 
liable to work loose. All the small rivets can be ham¬ 
mered up while they are cold, but the larger ones 
used in boilers, bridges, etc., require to be made 
white hot, so that the men can close them without 
cracking. Small rivets are made of iron or steel or 
copper, or brass chiefly, the copper ones being the 
best to work neatly. But they come more expensive 
than iron rivets, and are therefore used chiefly for 
copper goods, or boilers, and the iron for iron or steel 
articles. 

Rivets have different kinds of heads according to 
what they are used for. Some have to lie level with 
the surface, others may stand a little above, while 
a very common style is the “ cup-head ” (Fig. 3) 
that goes in a plain hole and is hammered over 
and finished to a spherical shape. Heads with straight 
sloping sides are often used instead of the cup-head. 
Excepting when a bit of plain wire is employed to 
form a simple countersink rivet (Fig. 1), there is 
always a “ head ” already shaped, and the riveter 
beats over the tail to make a similar finish, or a dif¬ 
ferent one, of one of the outlines shown in the sketch 
(Fig. 2). A favourite kind of head is the “ pan” 
(Fig. 5), much used in sheet-iron work, but the riveter 
knocks down the tail into a flat, or convex, or cup, 
or conical shape. The advantage of the pan forma- 

141 


142 The Boy’s Workshop 



tion is that it can be rested on any flat surface on the 
vice or bench, while the tail is being closed over, and 
will not suffer injury, whereas the cup or the conical 
heads must be supported in appropriate recesses in 
blocks or “ dollies.” 

After the holes in the metal have been punched or 
drilled, the rough burr round the edges of the holes 
is filed off, the pieces brought together, and riveting 
commenced. As a good joint depends on the close 
fit of the parts together, care must be taken to well 
hammer or squeeze them in a vice, or draw them in 




























































The Engineering Shop 143 

intimate contact by bolts, temporarily inserted in 
some of the rivet holes. Another useful idea is to 
hammer on the metal all around the tail, to tighten 
the fit. Usually a ball-pane of a hammer is best 
to start the beating over because the ball shape 
effectually spreads the middle of the tail, and also 
tightens the fit of the plates by expanding the rivet 
as seen in the drawing. Next the flat of the hammer 
is applied to further beat down and flatten the rivet, 
until a slightly convex or a nearly or quite flat finish 
results. Too much hammering at the conclusion of 
the operation must be avoided, or the rivet will 
become cracked, or else loosened. Conical heads 
(Fig. 4) may be finished off neatly with the hammer 
alone, but the cup shape requires a “ snap,” a sort 
of punch with a hardened end cupped out; this is 
applied after the shape has been roughly finished, 
and a few blows struck to smooth and complete the 
curve neatly. 






SOLDERING AND BRAZING 


O RDINARY or soft soldering is a very useful 
thing to learn, because you can mend all sorts 
of tinware used about the house, and also mend or 
make parts of models, etc., where a soldered joint 
is suitable. The difference between soldering and 
brazing is that the first is done with a substance 
of low melting point, and is not such a strong joint, 
while brazing is effected with brass, and makes a 
very strong union. Soldering will not stand much 
heat without giving way, while brazing endures 
much greater temperature. Articles such as kettles 
are made and repaired by soldering, but then the 
presence of the water keeps the heat down ; if you 
happen to let all the water boil away, the solder soon 
runs out of the joints. 

Soldering is less trouble than brazing, because 
the heat necessary to melt the solder is far lower, 
and there is no necessity to get the object itself to 
a red heat, as with brazing. The chief thing is to 
have the surfaces of metal clean where the solder 
is wanted to adhere, for it will not join with dirty 
or rusty metal. Therefore emery-cloth must be 
used, or an old pocket-knife to scrape with, until 
a clean, bright patch of metal appears. This is not 
absolute cleanliness from the point of view of the 
tinman, because a film of oxide immediately forms. 
What is called the flux gets rid of this at the time 
of soldering, dissolving the oxide and leaving the 
metal chemically clean. Chloride of zinc, or “ killed 

144 


The Engineering Shop 145 

spirits ” is commonly used, so is resin, but perhaps 
the most convenient stuff for the amateur is Fluxite, 
sold in tins, and taken out on the point of a match 
to apply to the metal. If this is done, and a spot 
of solder put on the joint, and a blowpipe flame is 
then played on the area concerned, the flux will sizzle 
up at first, and eventually the solder will melt and run. 
The advantage of the blowpipe flame (i.e. a bunsen 
burner used in conjunction with a mouth blowpipe) 
is that the control is so delicate, and the worker 
can cause the solder to run where desired, and stop 
the melting at any point, until a satisfactory joint 
is made. In putting a patch on the bottom of a 
kettle, for example, the metal is scraped clean around 
the hole for a sufficient distance and a patch of new 
clean tin cut of a size large enough to well cover 
the defect. Then flux is applied around the hole, 
a little solder melted on and the blowpipe played 
until this spreads all over the scraped part. The 
patch is also fluxed and tinned with solder, and put 
on the bottom. Thus we have two newly prepared 
surfaces in contact, and it is only necessary to lay 
on the patch, apply a little more flux, turn the blow¬ 
pipe flame on to the patch, and the solder will melt, 
after which a little pressure should be given on the 
patch to close it well down into contact with the 
kettle. The heat must not be played on too long, 
or most of the solder will run through the hole, and 
there may be insufficient to keep the mend water¬ 
tight and strong. 

The use of the soldering iron is not really so easy 
as that of the blowpipe for a beginner, because the 
heat is not under such precise control, and there is 

J 






146 The Boy’s Workshop 

difficulty sometimes in keeping the iron clean and 
properly tinned. The tool is really made of copper, 
a short piece of which is riveted into a suitable 
handle, and the pointed end of the copper has to 
be filed clean, made hot, dipped in flux, and then 
“ tinned ” by rubbing it on a stick of solder. The 
facets should be covered and bright with the “ tin ” 
when done properly, and this essential coating will 
remain for some time unless the iron is overheated 
(nearly up to a red heat), after which refiling and 
retinning are necessary. The reason for tinning 
is that the point of the iron has to melt and draw 
a line of solder along a joint as required, which it 
will not do if dirty. This drawing is done either 
from a spot of solder put on the joint, or from a 
stick of solder held in the left hand against the 
iron ; the latter then melts the solder and causes 
it to flow into the fluxed joint (Fig. 1). One has to 
be quick and skilful with the iron to get just the 
right flow of solder, and not let it accumulate in 
untidy lumps. If a joint in tin is long, a dodge 
known as “ tacking ” may require to be done, that 
is a couple or more spots are held together with dabs 
of solder, to keep the parts in correct position while 
the iron is drawn along the joint. Or clamps or 
wooden clothes pegs may perhaps serve instead. 
But many kinds of work are more easily soldered 
after the same style as the putting on of the kettle 
bottom patch previously mentioned; instead of 
playing the gas flame on, the iron is laid on the 
patch for a sufficient time to melt the solder on the 
faces. 

Brazing, or hard soldering, requires either a strong 





The Engineering Shop 147 

gas blast with air supply from hand or foot bellows, 
or blower, or else a clean fire. Only small work 
can be done with the mouth blowpipe, and it is a 
tiring process. Borax has to be employed as a 
flux, either put on dry and melted by the heat, or 
applied as a paste with water. Then a piece of 
“ spelter ” or soft brass is laid in a suitable position 
and the flame or fire allowed to act until the brass 
is seen to run on to or into the joint. It is generally 
essential to fix the parts of the work in proper position 
somehow to ensure that they shall not shift during 
the brazing operation. This is effected either by 



JOINT PILED 



Fig. 1.—Showing Use of Fig. 2.—Tongued Joint ready for 
Soldering Iron Brazing Broken Key 

binding round with wire, or putting clamps on, or 
by making a slotted joint which will keep the pieces 
in true relations. Such a joint may further assist 
the strength of the brazing, such as when mending 
a broken key, Fig. 2, which is tongued and grooved 
to make a fit. To conserve the heat when using a 
gas flame, it is a good thing to lay the article on a 
block of charcoal, or on a bed of powdered charcoal 
or a piece of firebrick. 

Some kinds of brazed joints are more easily made 
by laying the piece of brass or wire in between the 
surfaces to be united, and applying clamps or wire 





















148 The Boy’s Workshop 

to pull them together. There is a certainty then 
that the spelter will actually flow over the faces, 
which it might not do if melted and run in from a 
crack. Brazing is rather simplified nowadays by 
the fact that brazing plates are sold, containing the 
spelter and the flux in one. It is only necessary to 
work as usual with bits broken off these plates, 
and no borax flux is wanted separately. 






DRILLING AND BORING 


M AKING holes in metal is very different from 
making them in wood. The thin delicate 
points and edges used for the latter are totally un¬ 
suited for metal; they would crumple up and break 
if applied to it. Instead, therefore, of a drill or boring- 
tool having a thin penetrating edge like that of a 
knife, it must, for metal, be much stronger, that is 
of more obtuse angle. The shape of the common 
drill (Fig. 1) is shown in our first view. This cuts 
better in the soft metals than in those of hard or 
fibrous kind. For wrought iron and steel the front face 
ought to be curved, which is done either by bending 
the lips up in a forward direction, or by grinding 
a hollow. 

To use such a drill, its shank is gripped either in 
a brace or some kind of hand drill, a centre-punch is 
used to mark a spot on the work, and the drill point 
is started therein. For wrought iron or steel oil or 
soapy water is used on the drill; turpentine helps in 
very hard steel. If the hole is not very small, and has 
to be drilled exactly to a circle struck upon the sur¬ 
face, a little correction may be needed, should the 
point stray to one side out of centre. For such 
“ drawing,” as it is called, a centre-punch (Fig. 1) 
is pointed at an angle and driven to form an impres¬ 
sion, so that the drill point gradually slips into it 
and becomes carried over, so making the axis of the 
hole come as required. 

The objection to the common drill is that it does 

149 


i 5 o 


The Boy's Workshop 






Fig. 1.—Flat Drill, Straight Flute Drill, 
and Twist Drill 


not cut very fast, 
the chips do not 
escape from the hole 
easily, and it soon 
loses its cutting size 
after a few re- 
sharpenings. So the 
fluted drills which 
you buy in the tool 
shops are much 
more popular. For 
brass, etc., the 
straight flute sort (Fig. 1) answers very nicely, but 
its want of twist (which twist has the effect of 
making a sloping top cutting-angle at the point) 
spoils it for iron and steel, hence the “ twist drill ” 
(Fig. 1) is better for these. The twist drill can be 
used for soft metals quite well, but care has to be 
observed at termination of the operation, just as the 
point is breaking through—at which time the drill 
gives a violent jump forward and screws its way 
through the half-broken-through metal. 

A class of drilling which the amateur is likely to 

do often consists of operations on thin sheets, as for 

tanks, cisterns, etc. The point of the ordinary drill 

soon passes through such thin stuff, and there is no 

guidance after that. Therefore a plumber’s expansion 

drill has to be used, Fig. 2, first 

drilling a small hole for the centre 

pin to revolve in, and then inserting 

this and turning the tool with a brace 

until a washer-shape is cut awav» F>£- 2 - —How a Recess 
i • j if i x j Started by a Drill 

leaving a round hole as wanted. i s “Drawn” 



















The Engineering Shop 151 

Countersinking 
makes a sloping re¬ 
cess at the top of a 
hole already drilled, 
so as to take a screw 
or bolt or rivet head. 

A simple flat drill of 
the proper angle is 
employed (Fig. 2), or a tool is kept specially, 
after drilling the main hole. Counterboring differs 
only in that a parallel hole is enlarged from the first 
one, to take a cheese-head screw, or any parallel head. 
An ordinary drill can be used, but it does not leave 
a flat shoulder in the counterbore, and the proper 
way is to have a counterbore, with guide pin, as 
illustrated. 

Reaming is an enlarging and truing process, done 
sometimes to smooth and correct a drilled hole which 
is not good enough as left from the drill, or else to 
make two or three holes come into perfect line after 
they have been drilled, or the parts of a machine have 
been fitted together. Then a true bolt, or pin, or 
shaft, etc., can be placed in the reamed hole or holes, 
and will fit properly. The reaming tool is either what 

is called a “broach,” 
that is, a tapered 
piece of steel with 
flats on it (say five); 
or a proper reamer, 
made by cutting 
grooves in the steel 
to produce sharp 

Fig. 4.—Countersinking, and 

Counterboring edges. 





Fig. 3.— Drill for Holes in Thin Plates 


















































152 The Boy’s Workshop 

Boring strictly means the enlargement of holes 
already rough-cast or punched, or perhaps drilled, 
and is done in the lathe as described in the chapter 
on the metal-turning lathe, or in a drilling machine. 
For the latter kind of use, the bar is driven round by 
the spindle, and its bottom end revolves in a bush 
that is put into the table of the machine or is bolted 
below the work. The bar is thus steadied, and the 
cutter compelled to cut a round bore as it passes down 
through the work, fed by the feed apparatus usually 
employed for feeding down drills in the ordinary way. 
The particular advantage of boring to the amateur 
is that he can make any size of hole by adjusting a 
cutter in its bar, without going to the expense of 
buying a drill of that size, and he can also cut en¬ 
largements (counterboring) (Fig. 4), part of the 
way down a hole by suitable adjustment of a cutter 
in the bar. 







THE METAL-TURNING LATHE 

ERY many thousands of years ago the potter 



▼ made his goods by revolving a lump of clay 
upon a wheel, and pressing it into shape with the 
hands, the rotary motion taking care of the circular 
form. Now the lathe works in just the same fashion, 
excepting that as the wood or metal is not plastic, 
it must be cut with a tool. This tool is held either 
in the hands and steadied upon a bar, or it is clamped 
in a slide-rest, moved by screws. Less skill is re¬ 
quired to work a tool in a slide-rest than by hand, 
and the pressure of the metal cannot push the tool 
away, because it is held firmly with the parts of the 
rest. 

The simple potter’s wheel is equivalent to the 
chuck or face-plate of the lathe, on which the piece 
is fastened firmly. But as many articles are long in 
proportion to their diameter (including shafts, 
spindles, tubes, etc.), the hold at one end is insuffi¬ 
cient, and a steadying device is required. This takes 
the form of a point centre. For convenience also, 
shafts are supported at both ends on centres, enabling 
them to be removed from the lathe and replaced as 
often as desired ; or to be turned end for end to com¬ 
plete the turning operations. The retention of the 
centre holes is also convenient even after the shaft 
has been built into the engine or machine, for future 
alterations or repairs. Consequently, using centres 
only for support, the chuck becomes eliminated in this 
kind of turning. 


153 


154 The Boy’s Workshop 

The parts of 
the lathe neces¬ 
sary to meet 
these require- 
ments are 
therefore as 
seen in the 
drawing (Fig. 1). 
These essentials 
are present in 
most lathes, 
even the biggest 
in the engineer¬ 
ing workshops 
are only elabo¬ 
rations, with a 
greater choice 
of speeds, and 
of feeding rates 
for the several 
slide-rests. The 
rest (Fig. 2) 
shown separ¬ 
ately is only 
hand worked, 
turning the one 
or the other 
handle as neces¬ 
sary, but more 
advanced lathes 
have a sliding 
saddle, moved 
along" the bed 


















































































TRAVERSE SLID! 


Iffli 

I t III Hi 


iWiTO 





CLAMPS^ 

\ 

\\ 

® 1 © 

ui 


1=0 


-CROSS SLIDE 


The Engineering Shop 155 

by a shaft, which gives various “ feeds ” at a uniform 
rate without any exertion or care on the part of the 
turner. Screws 

are also cut by a - F00T 

power movement, 
there being a 
leading screw (on 
the Continent 
they call it a 
“mother screw”), 
rotated at a suit¬ 
able rate to make 
the tool run along 
a shaft and trace 
a screw-thread of 
the pitch or spiral 
wanted. 

When the shaft 

or spindle is driven between centres, a simple dog 
or carrier only is necessary (Fig, 3), this being 
fastened near to the end of the work, so that it 
comes in the way of the driver-pin in the plate 

screwed on the mandrel nose. 
The back centre is screwed 
up (by means of the poppet 
hand wheel), just sufficient 
to prevent the work from 
being slack between the two 
centres, but not too tight, so 
as to cause friction. Oil is 
placed on the back centre to 
stop heating. 

The ends of the work 



Fig. 2.—Plan View of Slide-rest 



Fig. 3.—The Carrier or 
Driving-dog 



















































156 


The Boy’s Workshop 



should be properly centred, that is the centre of the 
ends found accurately, and recesses made to fit the 

lathe centres. If these re¬ 
cesses are not right, the 
work will jump out of the 
lathe, or the piece will wear 
while the turning is being 

F!g F-r”e°Lthe S Cent r h e° U,d done, and so spoil it. In 

the old days a few blows 
with a centre-punch were given, but while this is all 
right for starting, it should be completed by using 
a centre-drill; this tool, run in the hand brace, forms 
a conical recess matching the lathe centre angle 
(Fig. 4), and also a little hole at the bottom of the 
recess, thus taking the pressure from the centre tip, 
and making the fit last for a long while. To obtain 
the centre spot in the first place, the simplest dodge 
is that of using a compass—with one bent and one 
straight point—and marking four arcs, the mean of 
which shows the place to put the starting centre-pop 
(Fig. 5). Pipes cannot be put on the centres in the 
ordinary way, so either a big-end centre is used, or a 
piece of metal is fitted fairly tight into the mouth of 
the hole, and drilled for the centre as usual. 

Some sorts of work are easily held in the jaw chuck, 
others cannot be, and have to be attached to the face¬ 
plate. Jaw chucks are of “independent” or of 
“ self-centring ” pattern. In the one the jaws are 
each moved inwards or outwards with separate 
screws, in the other they all travel simultaneously, 
by a gear or a scroll mechanism. The self-centring 
chuck is best for pieces of a regular shape, that is, 
round or hexagon, which do not require to be turned 
















The Engineering Shop 157 

eccentrically. The independent kind (Fig. 6) conies 
in for rough bars, castings, or forgings that necessitate 
more or less adjustment to bring them running suffi¬ 
ciently true. Or for jobs that must be turned or 
bored out of centre. Really one wants both chucks, 
because the independent sort occupies too much 
time to chuck pieces that ought to be gripped in the 
concentric type with a turn of the wrench. One in¬ 
stance of the value of the independent chuck for a 
common object is to grip an eccentric sheave for a 
model steam engine. By suitable adjustments of 
the jaw screws the outside of the sheave (Fig. 7) is 
pushed over out of centre (as seen in our illustration), 
until the hole runs true, to be bored out. For ordinary 
chucking of bars or other articles that have to run 
concentrically the simplest test is that ot holding a 
stick of chalk against the diameter while running ; 
this touches the “ high ” side, and shows a streak 
of chalk, so that one has to loosen the further screw 
and set in the nearer one to carry the 
bar across in the chuck. One or two 
more such tests enable the running to 
be made true enough. For more deli¬ 
cate trials it is necessary to use a 
pointer held steadily and observe its 
contact with the work. 

Chuck jaws can be used to grip 
either outside or inside the work ; some¬ 
times the same jaws happen to suit for 
either kind of hold, but oiten they are 
made to reverse in the chuck. Or a 
separate set is employed (Fig. 8), so as 
to enable the largest and the smallest 


r\ 



Fig. 5.— 

Starting-point 
for Centring 
End of Shaft 













158 The Boy’s Workshop 

sizes within the capacity of the chuck to be gripped. 
Drill-chucks are a special type, used to hold drills 
and such-like tools, also wire and rods and small 
tubes, with the least inconvenience and obstruction 
to the turners’ hands and the tool-rest, etc. 

The face-plate is a simple casting with plenty of 
screw or bolt holes in it, and the piece is laid against 
it, and fastened down with two or three or more 
bolts and clamping-plates. Supports or packing- 
blocks of metal or wood are often wanted to keep the 
piece a certain distance off the plate, such as to let 
a boring-tool pass clear through a hole without 
damaging the plate. The best plan to prevent the 



Fig. 6.—Independent Jaw Chuck 






































































































































The Engineering Shop 159 


Fig. 7.—Independent Jaw Chuck 
Holding Eccentric 


pressure of the 
clamps from 
straining the work 
and distorting it 
is to apply the 
principle of the 
three-point sup¬ 
port (Fig. 9) (that 
which enables the 
milking - stool to 
stand steady on 
uneven ground), 
using three pack¬ 
ing-blocks equally 
arranged round 

the circle, Fig. 9. To gain proper hold with the 
clamps, their packing-blocks must be just high enough 
to let the clamps rest flat; if these are sloped either 
up or down they will only touch along a narrow 
surface, and skidding will happen. 

The face-plate is very useful for chucking long 

plates or rods which 
have to be bored and 
inside faced at the ends. The 

GRIP . _ . 

rod is strapped on the 

plate upon a couple of 

rod grip blocks, and the end 

adjusted to bring the 

position of the hole 

correct for boring. Fig. 

10 shows an engine 

„ _ ., , T connecting-rod thus 

Fig. 8.—Outside and Inside , , , Tl . . 

Chuck Jaws held. It is usual, when 















































160 The Boy’s Workshop 

clamping such pieces as these, or engine crank-discs, 
or crank-arms, to bolt a balance-weight at the opposite 
side of the plate (as seen). This prevents the lop-sided 
throw of the work from making the lathe run irregu¬ 
larly, or the bored hole turning out of round. At one 
time, before so many jaw chucks were offered for sale, 
it was common to use dogs like those appearing in 
Fig. 11, so converting the plate into a jaw chuck. 
The idea is still useful for amateurs, though not adopted 
much in the regular workshops, because of the bother 
of setting up, and also that the screw ends do not give 
such a firm grip as regular jaw “ bites.” 

But a good method of chucking, that often acts 
as a great help to the amateur, is that of w r ood blocks. 
A chunk of hard wood is screwed against the face¬ 
plate, or driven into the bell-chuck, and is then faced 
off, and bored out to just let the edge of the object 
drive in, which provides sufficient friction for rota¬ 
tion against the cut of the tool. The method is very 
suitable for shallow or thin articles that are not easy 
to grip with the jaw chuck without risk of bruising 
or squeezing out of shape. A cylinder cover is shown 
held in Fig. 12 by its already finished edge. Almost 
the only precaution necessary in order to secure a 
true hold is that of cutting out the corners of the 
wood at the bottom of the recess, so that no rough¬ 
ness or splinters will stop the fair bedding of the metal. 

Long pieces which are likely to slip in the jaws 
of any kind of chuck must be supported by the back 
centre (using a big-end centre, or filling the end bore 
with a stretcher). But the mandrel comes in when 
a bush, or cylinder or collar, etc., has to be run true 
from a rough-cast or a bored hole. After boring a 






The Engineering Shop 161 



Fig. 9.—Showing How a Disc is Bolted to the Face-plate 
with Clamps and Packing 


steam-engine cylinder, for example, it may be forced 
tightly upon a wooden mandrel, the latter driven by 
a carrier, and the ends faced down, which will bring 
them square with the bore. Wood mandrels are 
easily turned up to any diameter to fit the work, 
but steel mandrels are best for permanent use ; these 
are turned or ground with a very slight amount of 
taper, to assist in getting a nice driving fit in the bore. 

With reference to tools and their use, we may ob¬ 
serve that it is better for the beginner to have a simple 
slide-rest on his lathe than to go through the diffi¬ 
culties of using hand-guided tools. These require 
much skill, and it is difficult to get the work turned or 
faced true, while boring is still more awkward. But 
with a control like that afforded with the slides of 
the rest, the tools may be moved accurately and with¬ 
out deflection along, or across, or at definite angles. 

K 













































162 The Boy’s Workshop 


The chief differences in the tools relate to the shapes 
of the points, and to their angles for cutting different 
materials. When you have to get off the rough skin 
on a bar, or a forging, or a casting, it is not satis¬ 
factory to bring a long cutting edge into contact 
with it, for the tool jumps about, becomes damaged, 
and the finish on the work is irregular. What is 



Fig. 10.—How a 
Rod is Bolted to 
the Face-plate 



Fig. 11.—Screw 
Dog Fitted to 
Face-plate 



Fig. 12.—Cylinder 
Cover Held in 
Wood Chuck 


needed at first is a detailed penetration under the 
skin, using either an angular point or one with 
rounded edges (Fig. 14). This effectively burrows 
its way along and breaks off the scale with the least 
vibration and the least damage to the edge. But it 
does not leave a continuous smooth surface on the 
metal, hence a finishing tool has to follow in most cases, 
having a flatter curve of edge, or a length of straight¬ 
edge, which obliterates and smooths down the roughed 
ridges. The finishing tool should only be used to 
take off a small quantity of metal, after the roughing 














































































The Engineering Shop 


163 


& 




.J 





r\ 1 

- — • 'T 

g. 13—Q 

nder 



for Facing the Flanges 


has been done properly ; if used for too long a period 
the amount of contact with the metal makes the 

. finisher start chat- 

-jn tering, and wavy 

marks appear on 
the work. 

The cutting 
angles vary chiefly 
according to 
whether iron 
or steel is being 
turned, or whether brass, gunmetal, or such softer 
materials. Looking exactly sideways at the tool 
(Fig. 15), there is seen to be a slope at the front 
(in all tools), and either a backward slope on the top, 
or a level surface. The front slope, or rake, is 
always necessary, to prevent it from rubbing against 
the work, but the top slope affects the keenness or 
wedge-like penetration. A steep slope makes the 
tool suitable for turning wrought iron or soft steel 
(which are fibrous), but cast iron wants less angle, 
and brass or gunmetal none at all. 

The same principles apply to boring tools, which 
are clamped 
in the slide- 
rest and fed 
into the hole 
of a pulley, 
or bush, or 
other speci- 
m e n (F i g. 

16). The 
essential 


Ar- 




Fig. 14.—Round-nose and Angular Roughing; 
Tools, and Flat Finishing Tool 



















































164 The Boy’s Workshop 

thing is to have the tool stiff enough to go into the 
required depth without springing away from the 
cut. The common shape for a tool is either round- 
nose, or angular, but there are, of course, other forms 
as there are of outside turning tools, with various 
kinds of shaped or bent ends. 

A long or heavy or awkwardly shaped casting, 
such as a cylinder, or long bearing, or lathe head, or 
engine bed, may be quite unsuitable for swinging 
round in the chuck, or there may be no space above 
the bed for it to revolve. All the trouble of bolting 
and packing, and setting true on the face-plate, and 
the risks of deflection of the work or of the boring 
tool, are avoided largely by fastening the object on 
the slide-rest or the saddle of the lathe, with bolts 
and clamps, and putting a boring-bar between centres, 
with a cutter held in it (Fig. 17 ). The cutter being 
adjusted to the required diameter, and the bar 
started revolving by a carrier, the slow traverse of 
the saddle or slide produces a true parallel bore. 
A round-nosed cutter has to be used for roughing, 
or an angular-shaped one, while one nearly parallel 
on the top takes the finishing cut through. An im¬ 
portant matter about the finishing passage is that the 
operation must not be stopped from the time of 
starting, otherwise a ridge will be left in the bore, 
where the lathe is set to work again. 

A great quantity of drilling is done in small 
lathes, either because the worker has no drilling- 
machine, or because of the convenience of being able 
to chuck some shapes to run true and so get a hole 
put exactly in the centre. The method is to grip the 
piece in the chuck or strap it on the face-plate, start 








Fig. 17.—Cylinder being Bored with Bar Fig. 18.—Using the Poppet Pad 

between Centres to Feed Work up to Drill 















































































































166 The Boy’s Workshop 

a little recess in the centre with a tool from the slide- 
rest, and then feed a drill up by the pressure of the 
back centre, the drill being prevented from turning 
by a carrier placed on its shank. Or for greater con¬ 
venience, have a drill chuck fitted by a taper shank into 
the poppet barrel hole, and so grip the drills without 
the bother of a carrier. When there is no need to have 
the work put concentrically in a chuck for the drilling 
process, the quickest plan lies in the use of a drilling- 
pad or plate on the poppet barrel (Fig. 18), the work 
resting against this, held by the hand or a spanner 
from slipping round, and the drill run from the chuck 
on the mandrel. Oil or soapy water is necessary in 
drilling wrought iron or steel, to prevent the drill 
from overheating and working roughly, just as in 
turning and boring operations, but for cast iron, brass, 
etc., no lubrication is wanted. 






Section V.—THE LABORATORY 


HOW TO START A LABORATORY 

I F anybody tells you that you cannot start to in¬ 
vestigate and enjoy the wonders of the science 
of chemistry without an expensively fitted-up labora¬ 
tory, with all the latest things in equipment and 
apparatus, you can tell them that they are very 
much mistaken. Edison began his study of science 
with the most makeshift laboratory it is possible to 
imagine, and he has risen to world-wide fame. He 
laid the foundation of his tremendous knowledge 
with old bottles and tins and bits of glass and metal 
tube that most folk would have thrown away as 
useless. 

Now for the starting of that laboratory that you 
have been longing to possess. Most parents think 
that the study of experimental chemistry involves 
smells—stinks is the usual word—and mess. Well, 
a certain amount of smell is inevitable ; but no well 
conducted laboratory, even the smallest, should ever 
be in a mess. Perfect cleanliness is absolutely 
necessary in chemical work. Parental prejudice is 
hard to overcome, however, and you will probably 
be banished to an outhouse or an outer room. Be 
thankful for what you can get, and make the best 
of it. 

If you have a good window, put your work bench 
under it. For your bench an old kitchen table will 

167 


168 The Boy’s Workshop 

do very well. If it is rickety when it comes into your 
possession spend some time in making it quite firm. 
This will save you much annoyance later on. Should 
you be lucky enough to have a sink and running 
water in your room you are in clover. If not you 
will want a clean pail to hold water and something 
in which to throw your slops. Remember that all 
acids and many other chemicals react on metal, so if 
your slop-pail is of iron be very careful what you 
throw in it. If you can get an old earthenware bed¬ 
room pail, that is the very thing to use—if you have 
no sink at your disposal. 

Another thing to remember is that all waste acids 
must be very diluted, and, if possible, neutralized 
before they are thrown down a sink. 

At convenient places close to your table, against 
the wall, you should have shelves to hold your appa¬ 
ratus and chemicals. If you have small brothers 
and sisters a cupboard, in which acids and other 
dangerous stuff can be locked up, is very useful. In 
any case, the more shelf space you can get the better 
it will be. Your apparatus will grow, and you must 
have somewhere to put it. 

As to the arrangement of your laboratory I can 
tell you very little, for it will depend almost entirely 
on the space you have at your disposal. The thing 
I would have you remember from the very start is that 
anything that is worth doing is worth doing well. 
Therefore, if every single thing you start with is 
makeshift, let it be the very best makeshift you can 
devise. Quite a lot of apparatus that is most expen¬ 
sive to buy can be improvised from stuff you can 
find about the house or purchase for a few pence. 





The Laboratory 169 

When you are struggling to fake up apparatus 
for some experiment, and wondering how you are 
going to do it, remember that all the great investi¬ 
gators have to go through exactly the same experi¬ 
ence. When they are making great discoveries 
they have no manufactured apparatus to help 
them. They have to think it out and design it 
themselves. 

Having your room, your table and your shelves 
all ready you will want some simple apparatus with 
which to start. Things like test-tubes, flasks, retorts, 
etc., you must buy. Retort-stands, tripods, and 
things of that nature, you will be well advised to 
make. The next chapter has diagrams to show you 
what they should be like, and, as you need other 
stands, I will give you brief directions for making 
them as they are required. 

The absolute necessities are as follow : 

Glass tubing, \ lb., assorted sizes 

Glass tube cutter or file 

Cork borers, set of three 

Glass funnel 

Two beakers 

Two flasks 

Two evaporating dishes 
One dozen test tubes 

In addition to these things, which you must buy, 
you should collect as many corked and stoppered 
bottles, of all sizes, as you can lay your hands on. 
The stoppered bottles you will need for keeping 
acids and such liquids. Wide-mouthed, corked 







170 The Boy’s Workshop 

bottles, such as those in which Bovril and Marmite 
are sold, are most useful for keeping solid chemicals. 
To make them handy to use you should bore two 
holes through the corks and make little loop-handles 
of string to each cork. Then stop the holes thoroughly 
with sealing-wax, and soak the corks well in liquid 
(melted) wax—candle waste will do very well. This 
is to make the corks thoroughly air-tight. 

You will also need something in the nature of a 
pestle and mortar for grinding chemicals, and a 
blow-pipe for use in bending glass tube and for use 
in certain experimental work. If you can get 
hold of a pair of photographer’s balances, with a set 
of grain weights, you will find them useful; but you 
can do quite a lot of work without balances. In the 
series of experiments I am going to describe I shall 
exclude, as far as possible, all but the most rough 
and ready weighing. 

Now to come to something which is very impor¬ 
tant. You must have a means of applying heat to 
your flasks, etc. If you have gas laid on in your 
laboratory you will naturally use it. In this case 
you will need a Bunsen burner (at a cost of about 
2s.). This is made on the same principle as the 
burners of gas-stoves or gas-fires. That is to say, 
the rush of gas draws air in through holes at the 
bottom of the tube, and a very hot flame results. 
The holes are fitted with a cover, so that the amount 
of air that is admitted can be regulated, thus chang¬ 
ing the nature of the flame. If you have no gas 
you must use a lamp made to burn methylated 
spirit (cost about Is. 6d.), or a Primus stove or any¬ 
thing that will give a hot flame without any smoke. 






The Laboratory 171 

An ordinary gas-jet or oil-lamp can be used, but the 
amount of soot given off is a terrible nuisance. 

With regard to chemicals. You should have 
the very best of these, for impure chemicals are the 
reason for many a failure with the young chemist. 
Most of those you will need can be purchased for a 
few pence an ounce, and there is no need to lay in a 
large stock. The best way is to start off with those 
which you are always wanting, and add others from 
time to time as you come to fresh experiments. 

Our first series of experiments will deal with 
the chemistry of the air, and for these you will need 
the following chemicals, all of them inexpensive : 


Sulphuric acid \ lb., cost about 6d. . . H 2 S0 4 

Zinc clippings, about 3d. .. .. .. Zn 

Sulphur (flower of) 2 oz., about Id. .. S 

Chlorate of Potash 1 oz., about 3d. .. KC10 3 

Manganese dioxide 2 oz., about 3d. .. Mn0 2 

Phosphorus \ oz., about 4d. .. .. P 

Iron filings (prepared at home) .. .. Fe 


The sulphuric acid must be kept in a stoppered 
bottle. All the rest can be stored in your wide¬ 
mouthed bottles. The phosphorus must be kept 
under water, and should be handled very carefully. 
It should never be touched with the bare fingers, 
but with damp blotting-paper. It must be cut 
under water, for it bursts into flame very readily. All 
bottles must be kept correctly labelled. This is 
very important. 

From the start you should get used to knowing 
chemicals by their formulae, which are given above 









172 The Boy’s Workshop 

for those you will have. These tell you the composi¬ 
tion of the chemical you are using. For instance, the 
formula for sulphuric acid tells you that it is com¬ 
posed of two atoms of hydrogen, one atom of sul¬ 
phur, and four atoms of oxygen. Similarly, chlorate 
of potassium consists of one atom of potassium, one 
atom of chlorine, and three atoms of oxygen ; man¬ 
ganese dioxide of one atom of manganese and two 
atoms of oxygen. The other chemicals mentioned 
in our list are “ Elements,” which means that they 
cannot, so far as we know at present, be broken up 
into any other substances. 






FIRST PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY 


tt ^TINKS,” as the fellows at school call chemistry, 
^ is one of the most fascinating of sciences 
and a first-rate hobby for anyone who is patient and 
observant. No doubt a number of youngsters who 
have acquired a liking for it at school or college 
would go on with it at home, but for the fact that 
they are deterred by fears that they will never be 
able to afford the necessary apparatus. 

Really there is no need to let the cost of chemicals 
and apparatus hold you back. You can get what 
you want little by little, and a great deal of apparatus 
can be rigged up with things that are to be found in 
every house. Besides, if we really want to go in 
for anything we can usually afford it. How many of 
you spend a shilling or two every week in going to 
the pictures ? Cut out the pictures for a bit and 
you will soon have all the chemical apparatus you 
require. 

When you are starting a home laboratory there 
are several things to be remembered. The most 
important is that acids and things like that stain 
very badly, and often destroy anything on which 
they fall. Do your chemistry, therefore, in an attic 
or outhouse where an accident or the almost un- 
preventible splashing of chemicals will do no harm. 
Let your work bench be an old table. If you can 
have a water supply and a sink in the room so much 
the better; but probably you cannot, and must 
therefore depend on what you carry into the room 

173 


174 The Boy’s Workshop 

for your water. There should always be a good 
supply in the room, and you should have something 
into which you can empty flasks and bottles when 
you have used them. An old earthenware slop- 
pail serves very well for this purpose. Do not 
empty chemicals into a metal vessel, for many 
of them act on metals and you will soon have 
trouble. 

Cleanliness is very essential in all chemical work. 
Directly you have finished chemistry for the day 
clean out with hot water all the apparatus you have 
used. Make everything thoroughly clean. Keep 
all your chemicals in stoppered or well-corked bottles, 
and have everything labelled. 

This chapter does not profess to be exactly 
scientific. You can get all the exact scientific 
knowledge you require from the numerous text¬ 
books that are published. All that we will do here 
is to give an idea how a laboratory can be started 
at home and how the simplest experiments can be 
carried out. Most experiments are based on a few 
general principles, and once you have mastered these 
you can do anything you like. Never be ashamed 
of makeshift apparatus. Remember that some of 
the world’s greatest scientists, Edison amongst 
them, have started in the smallest possible way 
with apparatus just as elementary as that to be 
described. 

Hydrogen gas is a great favourite with all of us, 
and is a good example of all those experiments which 
call for the evolution and collecting of a gas without 
the application of heat. 

Procure a jar of good dimensions. It need not 






The Laboratory 175 

be of glass, though, 
glass jar is nice to 
because it allows us 
to see what is going 
on inside whilst the 
experiment is in pro¬ 
gress. A Mar mite 
jar of the one- 
pound size will 
serve you very well 
for this, and for 
many other experiments. In most houses numerous 
jars and bottles that have contained food are 
thrown away. Seize all of these that you can get 
your fingers on. Clean and cherish them, for they 
are treasures to you; and get their corks with 
them, if they have corks. 

Bore the cork of your jar with two holes just 
big enough to take two pieces of glass tubing. In 
one of the holes you must insert a thistle funnel 
that goes right to the bottom of the jar. In the 
other hole place a piece of glass tubing bent to about 
a right angle and then bent up at the end again. 
You will learn how to make a thistle funnel and how 
to bend glass tubing in the articles on glass blowing 
in this volume. 

You can now start making hydrogen gas ; but 
before you do so you must have ready several clean 
jars into which you can pass the gas and collect 
it. Those longish jars in which preserved fruits 
come from the shops do very well for this. Old 
sauce bottles will also serve. Whatever jars or 
bottles you use the openings should be fairly wide. 



































176 The Boy’s Workshop 

Place in your jar—the one in which you are to 
make the gas—a small quantity of zinc chips. In 
the books you are recommended to use “ granulated 
zinc,” but any small pieces or filings of zinc w r ill 
serve your turn. Cork up the jar with the glass 
tubes in place, and pour down the thistle tube a 
sufficient quantity of dilute sulphuric acid to cover 
the zinc to the depth of about an inch. The correct 
strength of the acid is about one part of acid to eight 
parts of water. Hydrogen gas almost immediately 
begins to bubble off from the liquid. 

Now you will want to know what is happening. 
If your jar is a glass one you will notice that the 
gas is apparently coming from the zinc, and if you 
know anything of chemistry at all this will make 
you wonder. Zinc is an “ element ” and contains 
no hydrogen, so the gas cannot really be coming 
from the metal. What is really happening is very 
simple. Sulphur contains hydrogen, sulphur and 
oxygen—three elements—in chemical combination. 
The sulphur and oxygen like the zinc much better 
than they like the hydrogen, so they combine with 
the metal to form another chemical compound 
called sulphate of zinc, and let the hydrogen go free. 
Hydrogen is also an element, that is to say, it is 
impossible by any means in our power to divide it 
into any other substances. 

Remember that hydrogen gas is very inflammable, 
and will take fire more readily than even petrol 
vapour. Therefore you must make your gas well 
away from any naked light. Also remember that 
hydrogen mixed with oxygen in certain proportions 
is a very explosive mixture. There is oxygen in the 






The Laboratory 177 

air, and air and hydrogen are very nearly as explosive 
as a mixture of the two plain gases. 

Allow the hydrogen to bubble off in your jar for 
a few minutes and then hold one of your collecting 
jars mouth downwards over the delivery tube. 
After it has been there for about a minute or a minute 
and a half, depending on the size of the jar, take it 
well away from the apparatus and apply a lighted 
taper to the mouth, still holding the jar mouth 
downwards. The gas will fire with a sudden flash 
and a slight report, and, if your jar was nearly filled 
with pure gas, the gas will burn quietly at the mouth 
of the jar for a few seconds with a pale blue flame. 
When it goes out you will see that the inside of the 
jar is covered with a mist of water vapour. Water 
is always formed when hydrogen combines with 
oxygen, and this is what has happened. The 
hydrogen has combined with the oxygen in the air. 
The other gas in the air, nitrogen, is very inert, and 
does not combine readily with anything. 

Hydrogen is the very lightest substance known. 
You can easily prove how light it is by pouring it 
upwards from one jar to another, afterwards proving 
that the second jar is filled with the gas by lighting 
it and seeing it burn just as it did in the first 
experiment. 

Soap bubbles can be made with hydrogen by 
allowing the gas to bubble through a soap mixture. 
To get the very best results a little glycerine should 
be added to the soap mixture. This strengthens the 
extremely thin film of the bubble and makes it last 
longer. Hydrogen-filled bubbles rise right up to 
the ceiling. They can be made to explode by putting 

L 








178 The Boy’s Workshop 

a light to them. An airship is really nothing more 
than a hydrogen bubble with a case, which is the 
reason that there is always a great danger of fire 
in such ships. 

You will not be able to fill rubber balloons with 
hydrogen unless you rig up special apparatus that 
will probably be beyond you, because a good deal of 
pressure is necessary to expand the rubber, as you 
will know if you have ever blown up one with your 
lungs. The rubber balloons that are used by the 
air pilots to find the direction of the wind are blown 
up by being tied to the nozzle of a cylinder con¬ 
taining a supply of the gas under great pressure. 

Having made hydrogen you will naturally be 
anxious to prepare oxygen, which is one of the most 
important substances, if not the most important 
substance w T e know. Without oxygen there could 
be no life on this earth of ours. Oxygen is a very 
good example of a gas that must be prepared by the 
application of heat. In the books you are told to 
use a glass flask for the making of oxygen ; but as 
no acid is employed there is really no necessity for 
the use of glass. All you need is a small tin can with 
a tight cork, the cork having been bored for inserting 
a delivery tube. See that the inside of the can is 
thoroughly clean before you use it. Wash it out 
well and then get it thoroughly dry. It can be 
quickly dried by passing it over a strong flame for 
a few minutes. 

Now you must rig up a piece of apparatus known 
as a pneumatic trough. It is w^orth while taking some 
pains over this, for it is a piece of apparatus that you 
will use again and again in making gases that must 





The Laboratory 179 

be collected over water. You will want a deepish 
vessel, something that will hold about nine inches 
depth of water and leave an inch or so of space be¬ 
tween the top of the water and the lip of the vessel. 
Now get the smallest flower pot you can find and file 
a notch in the rim. This notch must be just big 
enough to take the end of a glass delivery tube or 
a small rubber tube. Place flower pot rim downwards 
in the trough so that the drainage hole is uppermost. 
That completes the 
trough save that it 
must be filled with 
water, so that the 
water surface comes 
about an inch over 
the top—the part that 
was once the bottom 
—of the flower pot. 

In the can place 
a mixture—half and 
half—of potassium 
chlorate and manga- Making Oxygen 

nese di-oxide. Fix up 

some arrangement so that you can heat the can. 
That done you are ready to make oxygen. 

Let us wait a moment before we begin and discuss 
this business of heating things in our laboratory. 
Heat is always being needed and something must be 
provided to give the heat. If you have gas laid on 
and the necessary permission to use it the most 
convenient thing to use is what is known as a “ Bunsen 
burner.” This is a single jet with airholes at the 
bottom of the tube that gives a blue hot flame. A 


















































i8o The Boy’s Workshop 

Bunsen costs three or four shillings these days, but 
an old incandescent gas burner will serve your purpose 
if you fake it up a bit so that it will stand firmly, and 
you can probably procure it for a few pence. 

Part of the pleasure of starting your own laboratory 
is fixing up cheap apparatus. It is surprising what 
can be done in this way with a little thought and 
ingenuity. If you have no gas you will have to use 
a spirit lamp or one of those Primus stove things. 
A spirit lamp is easily made with an old ink bottle, 
a piece of glass tube and a small sheet of tin to go 
over the cork and protect it from the heat. A wick 
of twisted cotton goes down the glass tube into a 
supply of methylated spirit in the bottle. The trouble 
with this makeshift is that the glass tube is apt to 
melt as the flame gets hot. A tube of metal or pipe¬ 
clay is better if such a thing can be obtained. A 
spirit lamp does not give very much heat, and the 
flame blows about if there is the slightest draught. 
The most efficient substitute for gas is a stove of 
the Primus sort. You should make yourself a stand 
to hold the vessels you want to heat over the flame. 
How you make it will depend on the source of your 
heat. On a Primus stove you will want nothing 
more than three small pieces of pipe-clay tube—old 
pipe stems, joined together with wire to make a 
triangle. For the Bunsen or the spirit lamp you 
should make a tripod, or three-legged stand of stout 
wire. If you have seen any chemical apparatus— 
and who has not ?—you can easily fix up these things 
without any trouble. Do not buy them if you can 
possibly help it. You will want all your spare cash 
for chemicals and necessities. 







The Laboratory 181 

Now let us get along with the oxygen. Place 
your can with the chemicals in it over the source 
of your heat. Lead a rubber tube from the delivery 
tube under the notch of the flower pot. Have ready 
some jars in which to collect the gas. Light up your 
gas or oil or spirit and await results. 

In a few minutes bubbles of gas will be seen 
coming through the drainage hole of the flower pot 
and bursting on the surface of the water in the 
trough. Let them bubble for two or three minutes 
so that all the air is expelled from the can and the 
bubbles are pure oxygen. Now fill a jar with water 
and place it, mouth downwards, taking care not to 
let any water out, over the hole in the flower pot. 
The gas will bubble through and drive out the water 
until you have a jar full of gas. This jar can either 
be kept with its mouth in a saucer of water till it is 
wanted or if the mouth is true it can be covered with 
a small circle of greased glass and stood mouth up¬ 
wards. Prepare as many jars of the gas as you require 
and then take the delivery pipe out of the trough. 

When you have done that you can take away or 
turn out the flame of your burner. This is an im¬ 
portant tip. When a delivery pipe from a heated 
vessel dips into water the pipe must always be taken 
from the water before the heat is turned off. If you 
neglect this the contracting gases in the vessel will 
suck up water, and you may easily have a nasty little 
explosion or at least a smash up of apparatus when 
the cold water flows into the still hot vessel. 

Oxygen is colourless and odourless and tasteless. 
You can find out these things yourself. If you smell 
anything in your jars of gas it will be impurities. 









182 The Boy’s Workshop 

Oxygen is a fine supporter of combustion. Dip the 
glowing end of a splinter into one of your jars of 
the gas and the splinter will immediately burst into 
flame. A glowing bit of charcoal placed in a jar 
will burn brilliantly, whereas it cannot be induced 
to do more than glow in air. You can make iron 
wire burn in oxygen if you go about it carefully. 
Slightly heat the end of some fine iron wire and dip 
the end into some flowers of sulphur. Ignite the 
sulphur and pass the wire into a jar full of air. The 
dully burning sulphur soon goes out and nothing 
else happens. Now repeat the experiment with a 
jar of oxygen. The sulphur at once burns more 
briskly and heats the end of the wire to redness, and 
then, if we are lucky, the wire itself begins to burn 
brilliantly, throwing off very pretty sparks. This 
experiment is well worth doing in the dark. The 
small black flakes that are found in the bottom of 
the jar after the wire is consumed are oxide of iron. 
Oxygen will combine very readily with almost every 
substance. The ordinary rust that you see on a piece 
of iron that has been left out in a damp place is red 
oxide of iron. Try how many substances you can 
find that will burn with difficulty or not at all in 
air but which will burn in oxygen. 

One of the most ordinary processes in a laboratory 
is the evaporation of a liquid to see if it contains 
any solid in solution or to get from it a solid that is 
known to be in solution. An evaporating dish is 
a thing that you must buy, though, if you are careful, 
you can make an old clock glass serve, if you happen 
to have one unbroken. The dish should be fairly 
deep, though, which a watch or clock glass is not. 





The Laboratory 183 

In a small quantity of water dissolve some salt. 
You will see that the salt disappears, but that it is 
there you can tell by tasting. It is not always 
advisable to taste things in a chemical laboratory, 
though, and, anyhow, tasting does not tell you how 
much of a substance is in solution. A substance is 
said to be in solution when it is held in a liquid 
without being chemically combined with it. Sub¬ 
stances in solution can always be obtained from the 
liquid by evaporation. 

Place a little of your solution of salt in water in 
an evaporating dish. In this case an old tin top 
will do since you know what you are looking for 
and that salt and the tinned iron of the tin lid will 
not react one on the other. Apply gentle heat and 
soon you will see the water passing off as steam. 
Presently a white substance will begin to appear on 
the sides of the evaporating dish as the 
water recedes. Soon all the water will 
have gone and an incrustation of salt will 
be found on the bottom of the dish. If 
you go carefully to work you can get 
back again from the water the exact 
weight that you dissolved in it. 

When a substance is held in suspension 
in water or any other liquid it can be 
removed by filtering the liquid. A sub¬ 
stance is in suspension when it is not 
chemically combined with the liquid nor 
is it in solution. Substances in suspension 
in a liquid usually sink to the bottom in 
time if the vessel containing the liquid is 
kept perfectly still; but some substances 



Burning 
Sulphur in 
Oxygen 













184 The Boy’s Workshop 

are so finely divided that they take hours or days to 
separate out in this way. Even then we cannot 
tell that every part has settled. With a filter we 
are certain of getting every bit out of the liquid. 

The chemist’s filter is a very simple piece of 
apparatus. It consists of a glass funnel and a piece 
of a kind of blotting paper which is specially prepared 
to be chemically pure. At present you need not 
worry about getting special filter paper. Ordinary 
white blotting paper will do all you need. The filter 
papers are cut into circles and then folded into four, 
taking care not to break the paper. One side of the 
paper is then pulled away slightly, making a little 
bag, and the paper is slipped into the funnel. If the 
liquid from which it is desired to separate the sub¬ 
stance in suspension is now poured carefully on to 
the blotting paper the pure liquid will run through 
into a vessel beneath, and the suspended substance 
will remain on the filter paper. 

You can easily demonstrate to yourself the uses 
of filtration by the following simple experiment. 
Grind up some charcoal very fine indeed, so fine that 
it feels quite soft to the touch. Mix this powder 
with about the same quantity of salt and put the 
mixture into a small vessel of water, stirring vigor¬ 
ously. The water will go grey because of the sus¬ 
pended charcoal in it, and it will taste salt because 
of the salt that has been dissolved. Pass some through 
the filter and you will get a clear liquid, which is 
water with salt dissolved in it, and the charcoal will 
remain behind on the filter paper. But if you 
evaporate the original water you will get a dirty 
mixture of salt and charcoal similar to that which 






The Laboratory 185 

you put into the water. By working carefully 
you can get back from the water the exact amount 
of charcoal and salt which you put into it. Filter 
the liquid first, and you will take away all the 
charcoal. Now evaporate the clear liquid that 
remains and you will get out all the salt. The only 
thing which you have not saved is the water. That 
has passed into the air in the form of steam. 

Sometimes it is the liquid that you require and 
not the substances in solution or held in suspension 
in it. In this case you use the process known as 
distillation. This is really only evaporation with 
means taken to save and collect the liquid. A still 
or retort can easily be fixed up. The simplest is 
the ordinary glass retort that you can purchase at 
a chemical outfitter’s for ninepence or a shilling. 
This is a flask with a stopper and a long bent back. 
To use it you place some of the substance to be dis¬ 
tilled—say our salt and water solution—in the flask 
part and let the long neck pass into a flask, which is 
kept cool by dipping in water and having water 
dripping on it. A wet flannel cloth over the flask 
and over the curved neck of the retort will also help 
if we make sure that none of the water we are using 
for cooling purposes passes into the flask. 

When heat is applied to the retort the water is 
evaporated in the form of steam, and, since it cannot 
get away into the atmosphere, it passes down the 
long curved neck of the retort. As it goes it is 
cooled and condenses back into water to be collected 
in the cold flask at the end of the neck. The water 
so collected is chemically pure because everything 
but the water has been left behind in the retort. 







186 The Boy’s Workshop 

The form of still we have described is only useful 
for the simplest forms of distillation ; but a more 
efficient one can be made with very little trouble. 
It is a thing you should have in your laboratory 
just as soon as you can make it. You will want a 
straight lamp glass. One with a bulge in it could 
be used ; but the straight one looks best. Procure 
two corks to fit the ends of the lamp glass tightly 
and bore a hole through the centre of each to take 
a fair diameter delivery tube, the biggest you have. 
Now bore two other holes in the corks of sufficient 
diameter to take two bent pieces of ordinary size 
glass tubing. Fix this part of the apparatus up— 
it is called the condenser—so that it slopes up at a 
good angle. To the bottom piece of short glass 
tubing attach a long length of rubber tube connected 
with a tank of water placed several feet above it. 
To the small bent glass tube at the top attach a 
length of rubber tube leading to the waste. 

The idea is that you connect a flask containing 
the liquid to be distilled to the stout glass tube that 
runs down the centre of the condenser. By 
means of the tank of water and the rubber tube cold 
water is kept constantly flowing through the lamp- 
glass condenser, thoroughly cooling—and keeping 
cool the condenser tube. As the vapour passes 
down this it is condensed at once and trickles out at 
the end, where it can be collected in a narrow mouthed 
flask. This is the principle on which the very biggest 
stills work, but in big ones, to give even better 
condensation the condenser tube is twisted into a helix 
what is usually called a spiral—and so has a much 
greater surface for the cold water to act upon. 





SOME SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS 


BURNING AIR IN COAL GAS 
VERY novel experiment is that in which a 



jet of air is made to burn in coal gas. An 
ordinary lamp chimney is fitted with a cork having 
two holes. One of these holes admits a tube con¬ 
nected with the gas main whilst the other opens 
into the air. Take away the chimney and turn the 
gas on slightly so that a small flame burns at the 
end of the admission tube. Now put the chimney 
in position, and, if the tube admitting air is sufficiently 
large the little flame continues to burn. Slowly turn 
the gas supply tap so that the amount is gradually 
increased. When the supply of gas reaches a certain 
point there is more of the vapour than the air can 
burn properly. At this point the flame disappears 
from the tube on which it was at first and reappears 
in the tube which connects with the air. Thus a 
flame of air burning in coal gas is produced. If 
wished, the gas which escapes from the top of the 
chimney can be ignited and this will burn in the 
usual way, that is gas flaming in air. By increasing 
or diminishing the supply of gas it is possible to 
control the burning of air or gas in the chimney as 
desired. 

A BUBBLE FLOATING ON HEAVY GAS 

Get a large tub and place a layer of powdered 
chalk or whiting on the bottom. Pour over this 
some strong vinegar or diluted hydrochloric acid. 


187 


188 The Boy’s Workshop 

Carbon dioxide gas will escape and gradually fill the 
bowl. Now blow a soap bubble, and to render this 
slightly heavier than air attach a paper disc pre¬ 
viously soaked in the soap solution to the underside. 
Detach the bubble from the blow pipe so that tt 
falls in the centre of the bowl filled with the heavy 
gas. It will then remain floating like a hollow india- 
rubber ball would in a tub of water. 

THE AMMONIA FOUNTAIN 

A very interesting experiment is the making of an 
ammonia fountain. In the first place secure a stout 
flask, or bottle made of clear glass. This should have 
a good-fitting cork with a hole in the centre. Through 
this hole is thrust a glass tube ten or twelve inches 
long, drawn out to a fine point at one end, with a 
small opening to provide a little jet. Ordinary glass 
tubing may be drawn to a fine point in this way. 
Heat the middle part of a long tube in a flame, and, 
when this is soft, pull the two ends steadily. When 
the centre part is very narrow cut with a pair of 
scissors, and there will then be two pieces of tube, 
each one drawn out to a fine point. 

In fitting the cork with the tube to the bottle 
pay special attention to the part where the tube is 
in contact with the cork. It is a good plan to put 
sealing or candle wax at this point so as to make 
it quite air-tight. The tapered end of the tube 
should be inside the bottle, and this should go down 
one or two inches, leaving by far the longer part 
outside. The next step is to fill the bottle with 
ammonia gas. This is not difficult to carry out in 
the following manner: Put into another small 






The Laboratory 189 

flask enough strong solution of ammonia to fill it 
to about a third of its capacity. Then warm the 
flask very slightly over a lamp. At once there will 
start to come large quantities of bubbles. These 
will be ammonia gas. Put a stopper with a glass 
tube into this flask, and then hold the first bottle 
so that the free end of the tube is well in it. The 
ammonia gas being lighter than air passes quickly 
into the bottle and the heavier atmosphere falls 
downward. Hold like this 
for a few minutes when it 
may be considered that the 
bottle is well charged with 
ammonia gas. Now put in 
the cork with the glass tube. 

Take care to keep this bottle 
upside down for, if the tube 
pointed upwards, the am¬ 
monia gas would soon pass 
away. See that the cork 
fits well, and if needful, 
place sealing or candle wax 
round the sides. 

The inverted bottle must 
be now rested in the ring 
of a retort stand or in a 
framework made of wire. 

The long end of the glass 
tube should be immersed in 
several inches of water 
is contained in a 

second vessel. Hav¬ 
ing followed these Burning Air in Coal Gas 





































190 The Boy’s Workshop 

instructions, the fountain may now be started in 
action. Pour a little cold water over the inverted 
flask. This causes the air inside to cool somewhat 
and contract. The air pressure on the water in 
the vessel forces this up the tube so that a little 
water begins to come from the jet. As soon as the 
water comes into contact with the ammonia gas it 
dissolves some of it and the outcome of this is that 
a particle vacuum is produced in the flask. In this 
way the atmospheric pressure forces the water 
vigorously up the tube so that a little fountain is 
started. If the jet is small the play of water con¬ 
tinues for some while and the effect is very pleasing. 

Now and again, when the inverted vessel is not 
sufficiently strong, it may be broken right in by the 
pressure of the external atmosphere when the internal 
pressure is diminished by the rapid absorption of the 
ammonia gas by the water. 

ICE AND BOILING WATER IN ONE VESSEL 

Owing to their fluid nature warm currents circu¬ 
late freely in water, and in this way heat is rapidly 
distributed. As a matter of fact water has an ex¬ 
tremely low power of conducting heat in a direct 
manner, and this is easily illustrated by a striking 
experiment. For the purpose there will be required 
a lamp, a long test tube, a small lump of ice, and 
a weight such as a piece of lead or a stone. 

Tie the piece of ice to the weight and then put 
it into the tube. Now fill the tube with ice-cold 
water and hold the upper end over a lamp. The 
tube should be held slanting downwards so that 
there is no risk of the flame reaching the lower part 





The Laboratory 191 

of the vessel. The tube can be easily held in this 
way if a piece of stoutish wire is twisted round the 
middle as shown in the picture. A very remarkable 
thing will then happen. If the tube is held so that 
the heat of the flame only reaches the upper part, 
the water at this point will boil vigorously whilst 
at the same time there is ice in the bottom of the 
vessel. This state of affairs will continue for quite 
a long while, so slowly does the heat travel through 
the water. Turn the tube up so that its bottom 
is over the lamp and a very different state of affairs 
arises. Here the ice melts almost at once, long 
before the water at the top has become even warm. 


A GAS THAT FALLS AND PUTS OUT FIRE 

A considerable number of gases rise in the atmo¬ 
sphere owing to the fact that they are lighter than 
the air. This is not so with all gases, as the following 
little experiment will show. 

Secure a glass jar of good size with a wide mouth. 
Now cut three pieces of candle one of which measures 
about an inch, another, two, and the third, three 


inches. Ar- 
tlie large glass 
manner shown 
You can get 
upright by 
wax a little 
side and then 
on to the 
jar. Next se- 
with a good- 
Bore a hole 



Only Simple Apparatus 
Required 


range these in 
jar in the 
in the picture, 
them to stand 
melting the 
on the under¬ 
pressing this 
bottom of the 
cure a bottle 
fitting cork, 
right through 












192 The Boy’s Workshop 

this cork and fix through this the smaller end of 
a bent glass tube. Fill the bottle half full with a 
mixture of one part of vinegar and two parts of 
water. Then throw in about half a teaspoonful of 
carbonate of soda and put the cork quickly into 
the bottle. At once the mixture will begin to 
effervesce, and, in doing this, carbonic acid will be 
produced. Place the long end of the tube over the 
large jar after first lighting all the candles. 

The carbonic acid gas falls down into the open 
end, and as the gas sinks into the jar it will begin 
to fill it. As the jar becomes filled with carbonic 
acid gas it will extinguish the candles. First of all 
the shortest one will go out; then that which is a 
little higher, and finally the tallest of all. 

CONVECTION CURRENTS IN WATER 

A very beautiful way of demonstrating the way 
in which water and other liquids are heated is in 
the following manner. Get a glass vessel, preferably 
with a rounded bottom. A fish globe, an inverted 
glass shade, or an olive oil flask with the rushwork 
taken away, would do well. Support this on a wire 
stand over a spirit lamp. Now almost fill with water, 
and into the vessel place a few small pieces of a dry 
aniline dye. This being heavy will at once sink to 
the bottom without colouring the water to any 
extent. Light the lamp and watch what happens. 
The water nearest to the flame becomes heated and 
consequently lighter. This rises and causes a warm 
ascending current which carries with it some of the 
dye that has been dissolved. Something must take 
the place of the warm currents, so the colder water 








The Laboratory 193 

near the top sink downwards, to be in its turn warmed 
and driven upwards. The most beautiful results 
are the outcome of heating water in this way, for 
the coloured currents spread through the main body 
of the water in streamers that follow a regular course. 
These currents are known as convection currents. 
Convection is the process by means of which fluids 
become heated by the actual movement of the 
particles of fluids due to difference of density. 

HEAT 

CONDUCTION 
EXPERIMENT 

It is well 
known that 
some sub¬ 
stances con¬ 
duct heat more 
freely than 
others. Thus Carbonic Acid Gas at Work 

copper con¬ 
ducts heat more readily than iron. An interesting 
way to demonstrate this is in the following manner : 
Get a length of stout iron wire and also one of copper 
wire. Bend about twelve inches of the wire over 
at right angles. The other part is fixed in an upright 
position to some support. Arrange the horizontal 
parts of the wires so that they nearly meet as shown 
in the sketch. Now, at intervals of about one inch 
on the underside of the wires, fix dried peas by means 
of softened beeswax. Arrange so that a spirit flame 
is just beneath the part where the wires nearly meet. 
The heat travels along each bar of metal, making 

M 














































194 


The Boy’s Workshop 


the wax melt and the balls drop 
off. The copper bar, which con¬ 
ducts heat better, allows a freer 
passage. The peas drop much 
sooner and at a farther distance 
along the copper wire than they 
do in the case of the bar of iron. 

LIGHTING GAS WITH A WIRE 

A remarkable characteristic 
of platinum is its power of ab¬ 
sorbing a mixture of coal gas and air. The 
effect of this is that the gas and air (or rather 
the oxygen in it) act upon each other chemically 
in the pores of the platinum very much as they 
do when actually held over a flame. As a result 
heat is produced, and the platinum wire becomes red 
hot and even sufficiently so to set the gas alight. 
A very effective experiment to prove this may be 
carried out in the following manner. 

Procure a piece of very thin platinum wire which 
is about fifteen inches long. Coil this round a pencil 
all but the last one or two inches. Now light a 
Bunsen gas burner, or one that burns with a blue 
flame. This experiment could very well be carried 
out over the ring of a gas stove. Take the wire from 
the pencil and hold the coil by the straight part over 
the flame. When the wire glows brightly turn out 
the gas. As soon as the flame has died aw r ay turn 
the gas on again. A mixture of coal gas and air 
passes up to the wire, and this has the effect of making 
it become intensely hot so that it is soon at a white 
heat. After about half a minute it is likely under 


















The Laboratory 


i95 


favourable conditions that it will be sufficiently 
glowing to set the gas alight once more. This ex¬ 
periment is most successfully carried out in a still 
room where there is an absence of draught. 

The fact that platinum is acted upon in the way 
described by coal gas and air led to the introduction 
of self-igniting incandescent mantles. In these, thin 
platinum wire is interwoven in the fabric of the mantle, 
and this becomes hot as soon as the gas in turned on. 

ri U ' 6 o ^ if 

,1 .> ; 



Note how the Wax Melts on Copper and Iron 
















CAPTURING ICE FLOWERS 


T WO per cent, of the best gelatine is carefully 
dissolved in distilled water. A little heat may be 
needed to dissolve the gelatine. At the same time 
purchase an ounce or two of spirits of wine—or 
methylated spirits will do as well. The only other 
thing that is needed will be a few small sheets of 
clean glass, which may be found in almost any home. 

When it is known to be freezing sharply the frost 
patterns may be secured in this way : Take a piece 
of glass and put it in a dish. Then pour over the 
surface a film of the gelatine solution. Any over¬ 
flow of the mixture may be poured back again into 
the bottle. In very cold weather the gelatine solu¬ 
tion may become rather thick, but it can be made 
thinner by placing the bottle for a few moments in 
warm water. Now take the glass which has been 
treated and put it in the open air. If it is freezing 
sharply the frost patterns will form in a few minutes. 

When the frost flowers are seen to be well formed 
take the piece of glass and put it on to a dish. Then 
at once flood the surface with the spirits. Leave for 
two or three minutes, and pour the unused spirit 
back into the bottle. The flooding of the surface 
of the glass with the spirit takes away the ice and 
leaves only the gelatine behind, which is in the form 
of the frost pattern. So a permanent record of the 
ice flowers is secured. To render the design clearer 
it is not a bad plan to varnish over the gelatine. 


196 


GLASS BLOWING 


T HE blowing and working of glass in a small way 
is a most interesting hobby, and can be in¬ 
dulged in without any expensive tools and apparatus. 
You can, indeed, do quite a lot of useful work with 
nothing more than a spirit lamp or gas flame, a 
triangular file, and the necessary tubing and rod 
glass. This extreme simplicity of equipment is not 
recommended, however, if you think of going in for the 
hobby seriously. It is not possible to make with it 
anything more than small scientific apparatus. 

To do the thing properly you need in the first 
instance a blow-pipe. An ordinary mouth blow-pipe 
will serve ; but it is better to provide yourself with a 
gas one or one that works with oil or benzoline. In 
the case of the gas blow-pipe it should be fitted with 
a simple foot bellows. The blow-pipe is the only 
expensive thing in the whole outfit. The icst 
consists of a small triangular file and a small rat-tail 
file. These should be of fine cut. Keep them for your 
glass work and don’t use them for any other purpose. 
For opening out the mouths ol tubes you will want a 
flat triangular tool made of copper with rounded edges 
and mounted in a handle. You can easily make this 
yourself. Also you should have one or two pieces 
of compressed carbon—old arc-light carbons or 
electric battery carbons will do very well. These 
should be sharpened at the end into cones of different 
shape. And that is all the apparatus. 

There are several different kinds of glass rod and 

197 


198 The Boy’s Workshop 

tubing. The simplest to work with is that known as 
soda-glass, and at first you should use this and no 
other. Bohemian glass, which is sometimes used 
in the making of chemical apparatus, does not melt 
so easily as soda-glass. It is not so easily acted on 
by acids and chemicals. Lead-glass is used for 
special purposes, such as the making of some parts 
of X-ray apparatus. It fuses easily, but is readily 
spoiled if it is not fused carefully, owing to the re¬ 
duction of the lead to a metallic state. 

Small glass tubes and rods may easily be cut by 
marking them at the required point with your tri¬ 
angular file. The mark should be a deepish scratch 
and should go nearly all round. The tube or rod can 
then readily be broken by putting the thumbs each 
side of the mark and bending it sharply downwards. 
Tubes of over half an inch diameter require rather 
more careful manipulation. In this case you must 
make a deep cut right round the tube. It then can 
be broken at the desired point by striking it sharply 
against a table edge, holding it as described for small 
tubes. When your tube or rod is broken at the right 
place clean up the ends with your files, using the 
rat-tail to finish off the interior. 

The easiest glass-working job, and the one you 
should start with, is the simple bending of a tube. 
For this there is nothing more efficient than the old- 
fashioned gas-burner known as a “ fish-tail.” 

^ Use the smallest tube you have, which will probably 
be a quarter of an inch in diameter, or under—don’t 
try “ thermometer tubing ” for a start—and hold it 
in the tip of the flame, where the heat is greatest, 
slowly revolving it all the time it is heating. This 







The Laboratory 199 

revolving of the heating glass is one of the funda¬ 
mentals of successful glass-working. It ensures that 
the material is evenly heated all round and prevents 
it from bending where you don’t want it to bend. As 
the glass gets hot you must make sure that you are 
revolving the two ends at the same speed or you will 
twist your glass. When the glass is soft take it from 
the flame and very gently bend it to the desired form. 
If the bend you wish to make is a very sharp one it is 
a good plan to do it a little at a time. That is to say, 
bend it a little at the first heating and then heat up 
again and bend some more. Also you may find that 
you have to blow gently through the tube whilst 
the bend is being made to prevent the glass falling 
in and constricting the bore. If you are trying to 
bend tubing in the blow-pipe flame you must move 
it slowly from side to side whilst you are rotating 
it, so as to heat the right amount of surface. 

Don’t be discouraged by a few failures at the 
start. Glass-working is really quite easy if you will 
only take pains to learn these simple operations at the 
beginning. 

With regard to the blow-pipe and its use. The 
effect of passing a current of air through a flame with 
the ordinary mouth blow-pipe is to supply the flame 
with a greater amount of oxygen. The flame burns 
much hotter but does not give so much light. The 
bellows blow-pipe acts on the same principle, but the 
air and gas are much better mixed and the flame 
is altogether more powerful. If you experiment 
with a bellows blow-pipe you will find out that you 
can produce three different kinds of flame. If you 
turn on a little gas and blow gently you will see that 







200 The Boy’s Workshop 

you get a small pointed flame. This is very hot at 
the tip and is most useful when you only need to heat 
a very small surface. By turning on the gas full 
and blowing as strongly as you are able you will get 
a large flame of a violet colour. This is not so hot as 
the small point, but it is used for heating large sur¬ 
faces. If you now cut down the air supply, or stop it 
entirely, you will have a large smoky flame. This is 
not nearly so hot as the others, and quickly deposits 
soot on the glass. It is used for this very purpose, 
for there is nothing like a thick deposit of soot on a 
job to enable it to cool slowly and anneal itself in so 
doing. We will talk of this again later on. 

Now for some more advanced work. It is often 
necessary to draw out tube or rod to a smaller dia¬ 
meter than that which it had originally. Start 
by putting a point or jet on to the end of a tube. To 
do this heat the tube for about two inches of its 
length, and, when it is quite soft, draw the two ends 
apart whilst you slowly rotate. You will find that, 
if you like, you can draw out the hot glass until it is 
no thicker than a hair. There is no need to take it so 
fine as this, though. Draw until you have extended 
your two inches of hot glass to about twice its 
original length. Then allow it to cool and separate 
the tube in the middle with a file cut, in the usual 
way. \ ou will find that you have now two tubes, 
each of which has a jet end. 

Having got this far you should practise drawing 
longer and shorter jets and then attempt to draw a 
parallel tube of, say, three or four inches so that you 
have a tube that is longer and thinner than the 
original one, but with its bore parallel all the way 





The Laboratory 


201 


through. This is not so difficult as it sounds. After 
two or three attempts you should be able to do it 
easily. It is all a matter of the right heat and keeping 
the tube revolving equally with both hands, so as not 
to twist it. No amount of description will teach you 
half so much as the actual work. 

Almost the first thing a young scientist wants to do 
is to blow a bulb on the end of a tube. Such bulbs 
are constantly being wanted in the laboratory, and 
very curious indeed are some of the results of an 
attempt to make them. Now that you know some¬ 
thing of the first principles of glass-working you 
should be able to make your bulbs neatly and quickly. 
You should aim at getting a bulb that is truly spheri¬ 
cal, with the glass an even thickness throughout. 

The first thing to do in bulb-blowing is to seal 
the end of the tube. To do this heat the very end of 
the tube strongly until the sides fall together. If you 
don’t forget to revolve the tube all the time it is 
heating the tube will seal itself centrally, and the 
first part of your work will be well done. Without 
letting the end cool, move the tube a little farther into 
the flame so that it is strongly heated for about a 
quarter of an inch. Remove the tube from the flame 
and blow gently down the open end, holding the tube 
slightly slanting and revolving slowly all the time. 
The result should be a truly round bulb, centrally 
placed on the end of the tube and about half an inch 

in diameter or a little bigger. 

To make a larger bulb seal the end as before and 

then blow a small bulb at the very end of the tube, 
something under half an inch in diameter. Then 
heat the tube a little higher up and blow a second 









202 The Boy’s Workshop 

bulb the same size as the first. Next heat both bulbs 
strongly, revolving at higher speed, as the glass softens, 
to prevent the sides falling in. When the glass is 
really soft blow gently until the two bulbs have 
grown into one long one. Heat up and blow and 
heat up and blow again until you have a truly round 
bulb of, say, an inch and a half diameter. 

The secret of glass-blowing, apart from the re¬ 
volving of the tube, which is an absolute essential, 
is gentle blowing at first, gradually increasing the 
strength as the glass cools. 

Having got so far you can, if you like, attempt to 
make a small flask by using larger tubing. You pro¬ 
ceed exactly as before, except that the work will be 
slower because the glass will need more heating, 
and you will also find that you will have to repeat 
the operations of heating and blowing many more 
times to form your bulb. You can make a flat 
bottom by heating the rounded end in a large flame 
so that it will fall in flat as you rotate it. Now 
smoke the bulb all over and allow it to cool slowly. 
When glass-work is cooling it is convenient to stand 
it on a w r ooden block. Finish off the flask by cutting 
the neck to the required length. Then heat the cut 
end and gently press out an even lip all round by 
means of one of your carbon cones. A pouring lip 
may be formed by heating and gently pressing with 
the triangular forming tool or the triangular file. 

You can make little ornamental glass jugs for your 
friends in this way, finishing them off with handles of 
twisted tubing. To twist the tube, heat it an inch at 
a time and twist with one hand whilst you hold the 
other still. Fusing the handle to the flask may give 







The Laboratory 203 

you a little trouble. To do it you must have the end 
of the handle that is to be stuck and the point of the 
flask where it is to join equally hot and soft. Don’t 
press too hard when making the junction, or you will 
drive the side of the flask neck in and bend the 
handle. The two pieces should stick when they 
touch. It is well to practise with some odd bits of 
glass. You will soon find out how to do it. 

Blowing bulbs in the middle of lengths of tubing 
will present no particular difficulty when once you 
have learned to blow good ones at the end of a tube. 
You will also find it easy to make funnels or “thistle” 
tubes. To do this blow a bulb of the size you require. 
Then heat the end and blow strongly to burst the end 
open. If you have heated the end of the bulb evenly 
you will find that the effect of blowing strongly is to 
make a balloon of glass which, on bursting, will give 
the bulb the rough shape of a thistle. Smooth down 
the broken ends with the file and then heat it and 
form a lip with the copper forming tool. 

With the aid of a mouth blow-pipe or the small 
flame of a bellows blow-pipe, one tube may readily be 
joined to the side of the other at any required angle. 
To do this seal the end of your tube and then heat it 
strongly on one side at the exact point where you 
wish to make the junction. Blow gently till you 
have raised a small lump—a tiny bulb on one side 
of the tube it is—then re-heat the end of this bulb and 
blow strongly to burst it. You have now a rough 
hole in the side of your tube. Clean it and smooth it 
off with the files. Now, with one of your carbon 
shaping pieces slightly widen the end of another 
piece of tube that you have heated at the end. By 








204 


The Boy’s Workshop 


heating both the tubes together you can join them at 
the desired spot. It is well to blow gently down the 
first tube whilst the joint is being made to prevent the 
hole from closing up. A small tube can be fused to 
the side of a bigger tube, such as a test tube, in 
exactly the same way. To join two tubes of the same 
size end to end you should blow a very small bulb 
on the end of each and burst them as before described. 
Clean up the ends with the file and then finish off by 
heating. Now heat both tubes together and bring 
the ends accurately together, rotating as usual and 
blowing gently down one tube to keep the passage 
free, closing the free end of the other tube with a 
finger. When the joint is made re-heat it and gently 
draw it out until the whole joint is the same size as 
the rest of the tube. It is possible to make such a joint 
so that it hardly shows. 

You should now be in a position to make almost 
any chemical glass apparatus that you or your friends 
may require, and, if that is all you set out to do, you 
need read no farther. Probably, though, you will, 
by this time, have become fascinated with glass-blow¬ 
ing as a hobby and will sigh for fresh fields to con¬ 
quer. If that is the case, you can proceed to the 
manufacture of simple glass ornaments. 

Before you do this you should try your hand at 
working with thin glass rod instead of tube. You will 
find that it is not quite so kindly as the tubing. Rod 
has a way of resenting being heated and flying to 
pieces when you put it in the flame. With a little 
patience, however, you can make it do your will. 
Don’t be sudden with glass rod. Warm it over the 
flame first and gradually bring it into the hottest part. 








The Laboratory 205 

Always smoke it and let it cool slowly when you have 
done what work is necessary. Slow but sure is the 
way in all glass-working, but particularly so is it the 
rule for rod. 

The simplest thing to make with rod is a glass 
stirrer such as is used by photographers and chemists. 
You can flatten one end by a sudden nip from a pair 
of heated pliers. The nip must be instantaneous, 
though, or you will fracture the rod. This will give 
you a handle flattened lengthways to the rod. To 
flatten the other end crossways to the length of the 
rod heat the end and press it suddenly and strongly 
on to a smooth iron surface, removing it at once. 
Smoke both ends directly you have worked them, and 
allow them to cool slowly. 

If you can get hold of any coloured glass rod 
you can try your hand at making bracelets for your 
sisters and your cousins and your aunts. These look 
very effective when twisted and worked neatly. 
Making them into a true circle is a difficult job, though. 
It is possible to do it successfully by bending the rod 
round a lead tube of large diameter which is kept 
fairly hot by means of a lamp or gas flame burning 
inside it. The two ends are fused together when the 
final bend is made. It is necessary to join the two 
ends, or the bracelet will most surely break the first 
time its wearer catches one end in any portion of 
her attire. By the way, you are not likely to get 
coloured rod from the ordinary chemical supply 
people who will sell you soda-tube and rod. Your 
best hope is a glass works. If you live anywhere 
near one you will likely get hold of what you want 
for a few pence. 







206 The Boy’s Workshop 

Many fascinating ornamental vases and suchlike 
can be manufactured from ordinary thin cheap 
tumblers or drinking glasses. They must be very 
thin, though. Thick ones want so much heating that 
working with them is a slow job. Besides, they are far 
more likely to fracture than is the thin stuff. From 
such tumblers you can also make very good measuring 
glasses for household use or for photographers. 

Let us tackle the last job first, as it is easy and will 
give us some practice in handling the tumbler. All 
that you need to do to convert an ordinary half-pint 
tumbler into a measuring glass is to make a pouring 
lip on it and graduate it with the necessary markings. 
Proceed with the lip first. Heat the edge over a 
fairly narrow area with the blow-pipe flame, and when 
the glass is soft form a lip with the triangular file. 
Don’t make it too pointed. Now all you have to do 
is to take another graduated measuring glass which 
you know to be correctly marked and pour water 
from it into your glass. Do the work carefully and 
mark, with a file, the exact level of each ounce or 
whatever graduations you decide to use. The top 
two ounces and the bottom one might conveniently 
be divided into halves and quarters. The scratches 
should be extended carefully when all the markings 
are complete, and then numbered with scratched 
figures with the end of the rat-tail file or a diamond 
point. Don’t forget to write also what the divisions 
represent. There is no need to write “ Ozs.” or 
whatever the divisions are more than once on the 
glass. 

Your next job might be a cream or milk jug. To 
make this form a lip as before directed. Then twist 







The Laboratory 207 

up a handle from tube or rod. Tube is easier to 
work and will serve just as well as rod if you seal the 
ends to prevent the dirt from getting in. It is possible 
to fdl the tube with coloured liquid when you have 
finished twisting it and before you seal the final end. 
This makes the jug look very effective. In this case, 
however, you should close off the portion of the tube 
which you are going to fuse on to the jug or you will 
probably fracture it. 

The tumblers may be made into ornamental vases 
in many ways that will occur to you now that you 
have got so far. By heating them in various places 
you can indent them by pushing from the outside with 
your formers or file-ends, or you can push out portions 
to make beaks or knobs by working from the inside. 
Ornamental handles can be worked up from twisted 
and bent tube, and twisted and drawn tube can be 
fused on in various patterns. What you can do with 
thin tumblers will astonish both you and your friends. 
It is only a case of the amount of time and trouble you 
are willing to expend. 

You will find simple glass-working a most fascin¬ 
ating hobby and one that is very adapted to amuse 
you during the long winter evenings. If you like to 
take pains you may make a few welcome shillings 
over it by manufacturing chemical apparatus and 
ornaments such as have been described. By getting 
into touch with schools and institutes you should find 
a market for well-made apparatus fairly easily. 





WATER CHEMISTRY 


U NTIL about a century and a half ago water 
was thought to be an element. That is to 
say, it was thought to be a substance that could 
not be divided up into any other substances. We 
now know that it is a very wonderful chemical 
compound, composed of two gases called oxygen 
and hydrogen. 

In our previous experiments we have already 
met one of these, the gas oxygen, which is mixed 
with nitrogen to form air. Don’t forget that air 
is simply a mixture of the two gases, whereas water 
is a chemical compound. 

Experiment 1 .—What happens when water is 
heated ? 

To perform this experiment prepare a long glass 
tube by blowing a large bulb at one end of it, leaving 
the other end open. If you now gently warm the 
bulb and then insert the open end of the tube into 
a vessel of warm water the water will be drawn up 
into the tube to take the place of the air that has 
expanded and been forced out of the tube. Get 
the bulb quite full, with perhaps an inch of water 
up the tube itself. Drop enough ink, either red 
or black, down the tube, to tint the water slightly, 
and then carefully mark the exact spot to which 
the water comes in the tube. Having done this 
as accurately as possible, proceed to warm the 
bulb gently in a flame. 

You will see that the water rises above the spot 

208 


The Laboratory 


209 


you have marked. On removing the bulb from the 
flame and allowing it to cool the water will contract 
again to its original mark. If you are doing this 
experiment in the winter and can prepare a mixture 
of ice and salt, known as “ freezing mixture,” you 
will find it very interesting to plunge the bulb into 
this mixture. You will notice that the water con¬ 
tracts until it is some distance below its original 
mark. 

We conclude from these observations that water 
expands when heated, and contracts when cooled. 

If, however, you continue the cooling so long 
that the water in the bulb freezes you will see a 
wonderful thing happen. The water expands again. 
It expands so strongly that it may fracture the glass 
bulb. If the bulb is not fractured a column of ice 
will be forced a considerable distance up the tube. 

Experiment 2 .—Water will dissolve some solid 
substances. 

Fill three or four test-tubes with water to some¬ 
where about the half-way line. Now place in one 
a little silver sand, or knife powder. No matter 
how you shake the water you will notice no change 
at all in either the water or the substance you have 
placed in it. The water may appear a little clouded 
by dirt, but that will disappear if the test-tube is 
allowed to stand for a little while. 

Next take a little sugar and a little salt and place 
a little of each in two of the test-tubes. You will 
notice that both sugar and salt disappear in the 
water. They are said to dissolve. If you taste the 
water you can tell that both sugar and salt are still 
there, though you cannot see them. 

N 





210 The Boy’s Workshop 

Now pour your two “ solutions ” into evaporating 
dishes and gently heat them. You will recover the 
exact amount of sugar and salt which you dissolved, 
in the form of crystals on the sides and bottom of 
the dishes. The water will have passed into the 
atmosphere in the form of steam. 

This leads us to the conclusion that water will 
dissolve some substances but not others. Also that 
a substance that has been dissolved can be recovered 
by driving off the water by means of heat. The 
steam contains none of the substance whatever. 
It is all left behind in the dishes. This method of 
recovering a substance from solution is known as 
“ evaporation.” 

Experiment 3 .—To prepare distilled water. 

Water, as it comes from the tap, is quite pure 
enough to drink, for it has been carefully filtered 
at the water-works; but it contains, in solution, 
many traces of salts and other material which make 
it quite unfit for delicate chemical experiments. 
Now we have seen that if we evaporate a solution 
the water is driven off in the form of steam and the 
material held in solution is left behind. A moment’s 
thought will tell us that the steam must be quite 
pure at the moment when it leaves the solution, 
and that, if we could catch it and turn it back into 
water, that water would be just what we want for 
chemical experiments when pure water is called for. 

A “ still ” or apparatus for distilling small quan¬ 
tities of water or other liquids can easily be prepared, 
and since it will often be useful to you, you should 
set about making one at once. 

You will require an ordinary lamp glass, and 







The Laboratory 211 


two corks that will tightly fit the ends of the glass. 
In the centre of each bore holes large enough to 
take a length of your largest size glass tubing, pro¬ 
vided that it is not bigger than half an inch. Half¬ 
way between this hole and the outer side of the cork, 
bore another hole, one in each cork. These are 
for the supply of cooling water as shown in the 
sketch. The short lengths of glass tubing which go 
into them should be of a size to take a rubber tube. 
The bottom tube must be fixed on to a water tap 
or on to a tank that is four or five feet above the 
apparatus. The top tube should be slightly bigger 
than the bottom one, so as to allow the water to 
escape freely. 

Next prepare the length of central tube by blowing 
a long bulb on one end and then opening it, as directed 
in the article on glass blowing. This tube should be 
long enough to pass right through the cc condenser 
tube ” as your lamp-glass is now called. 

When you wish to distill water or any other 
liquid the flask containing the liquid is tightly corked 
and connected to the central tube of the condenser 
by a short length of glass tubing. Water is then set 
to circulate through the condenser, and gentle heat 
is applied to the flask. In a short while steam will 
be driven off, and, condensing in the cold inner tube 
of the still will trickle out at the lower end where 
it may be collected. It is then known as a 

“ distillate.” 








HOW TO ETCH ON GLASS 

A Simple Experiment 

HE other day a fellow I know showed me some 



A photo frames in which the glasses had drawn 
and cut into them some pretty and simple designs 
of flowers, and in some cases the names of the people 
whose photos were in the frames were also cut on 
the glass. 

I was rather surprised at the clearness and sharp¬ 
ness of the cutting and the smart effect of the work, 
for I have tried myself to draw on glass with a diamond 
point, and I know how difficult it is. The point 
slips on the slightest provocation, and makes a scratch 
it is impossible to remove. On these designs there 
wasn’t a wrong line. 

My young friend laughed when I congratulated 
him, and showed me how it is done. It is so simple 
that any boy can do it. 

The first thing you need is a dish of lead. You 
can easily make this for yourself, if you can get hold 
of a sheet of lead, which can be bought quite cheaply 
from a plumber. It does not need to be very deep, 
and my friend had made his by hammering the 
sheet until it was the right shape. It does not 
matter how rough it is, provided it is about an inch 
deep. 

Next you want some fluor-spar, or Derbyshire 
spar, as it is called. This you can obtain, in the small 
quantities you will require, from a naturalist’s shop. 
Grind up and powder your fluor-spar, and have 


212 


The Laboratory 213 

ready some sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, as it is 
sometimes called. 

Now you will have to make up your mind what 
design you wish to etch. Choose something simple 
to start with, like a name or some simple lines. 
Coat your glass plate all over the side that is to be 
etched or engraved with wax—candle wax will do. 
You can coat the glass by melting the wax and pour¬ 
ing it over the glass, which you have previously 
slightly warmed. Twist and turn the glass about 
until every portion of the side is covered, and let 
it harden, which it will do very quickly. It does 
not matter if the wax coating is not very even, 
provided that the glass is completely covered. 

Draw your design on the wax with a needle. 
For thick lines a knitting needle will do, and for 
finer lines you must use finer needles. The great 
thing is to remove all the wax from the surface of 
the glass where you wish the design to show on the 
glass. 

CARE NEEDED WITH THE ACID 

Now place your glass, wax side downwards, on 
the top of your lead dish, in which you have pre¬ 
viously placed a small quantity of the powdered 
spar and poured on it some sulphuric acid. Apply 
heat to the bottom of the lead dish. Keep your 
hands away from the dish, for the hydrofluoric acid 
which comes off is very acid. If you can put on 
an old pair of gloves whilst you are working it will 
be a good thing. When the gas has been coming 
for about five minutes, take the heat away from the 
lead dish and then remove the glass. Directly you 









214 The Boy’s Workshop • 

do so hold it under the tap to wash all the acid away. 
Then examine it carefully, without scratching the 
wax. You will see that the design you have drawn 
has been bitten into the glass. If it is not deep 
enough, put it back on the dish and continue the 
operation. If you think it is sufficiently etched, 
scrape off the wax and you will see your design 
clearly engraved on the surface of the glass. 

Any drawing or design can be made on glass in 
this way. The great thing is not to try to etch it 
too deeply, or the acid will eat under the v r ax and 
destroy the clearness of the lines. 

You must ahvays be very careful when v r orking 
with acids. Never leave them about where youngsters 
can get at them, and always keep them in a bottle 
marked clearly with the name and “ Poison ” on 
them in red, and wear an overall or old clothes whilst 
experimenting. 

When you have done work you can save the spar 
you have not used by washing the acid out of the 
lead dish under a gentle stream of v r ater from the 
tap, and then storing the spar in a bottle. 





Section VI.—THE ELECTRICIAN’S SHOP 


THE PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRICITY 

I F you rub a perfectly dry stick of amber, vulcanite 
or glass with a piece of perfectly dry flannel, 
or fur, you will find that the stick of amber, vul¬ 
canite or glass will pick up small pieces of paper or 
pith, which it was not able to do before you rubbed it. 

In performing this little experiment, which can 
be done with a fountain-pen or a pipe mouthpiece, 
you are reproducing the very first electrical experi¬ 
ment that was ever made. Way back in the very 
early days of science, something like six centuries 
before the Christian era, when men were just begin¬ 
ning to try to connect cause and effect, a Greek 
philosopher discovered that amber behaved in the 
way you have made it behave when rubbed. The 
Greeks called amber “ elektron,” and believed it 
to be the solidified tears of the daughters of “ Elec¬ 
tor,” the Sun-God, or “ Shining One.” From this 
name has come our word electricity. 

If you continue your experiment and watch the 
pieces of paper closely, you will notice that, after a 
short while, some of the pieces of paper will shoot 
off the amber or vulcanite and fly back to the table. 
Once they have done this it is some time before they 
can be picked up again. The ancients were at a loss 
to understand this and invented all sorts of wonder¬ 
ful explanations. Let us try to find out what has 
actually happened. We shall want two glass rods, 

215 


216 The Boy’s Workshop 

or two rods of ebonite or amber, and a foot length of 
silk thread to perform the experiment, which is a 
very simple one. 

Tie one end of the silk thread to some convenient 
stand and to the other end fix a loop of paper, so 
that you can balance one of your rods in it. Rub 
the rod vigorously with your fur or flannel and slip 
it quickly into the paper loop, so that it is free to 
revolve in any direction. Now rub the other rod 
and hold one end towards the suspended rod. The 
suspended rod immediately moves away from the 
other. Rub the rod you are holding again, but this 
time approach the fur or flannel towards the sus¬ 
pended rod. The suspended rod moves towards 
the fur. It is attracted by it! 

How can we account for this ? We know r that 
by rubbing the glass or amber rod we have excited 
electricity in it. We can easily find out that if we 
approach the two rods together or a rod and the fur, 
without rubbing them, nothing whatever happens. 
We can only imagine that there must be two sorts 
of electricity, one in the glass or amber and the other 
in the fur, and that unlike sorts attract one another, 
and that like sorts repel one another. This is, in 
fact, the truth. But how does this affect the curious 
thing we have noticed when picking up pieces of 
paper with the rubbed rod ? What happens is that 
the bits of paper clinging to the rod become charged 
with the same kind of electricity as the rod is charged 
with. Directly this happens they are repelled and 
cannot be picked up again until they have lost their 
charge or become charged with the other kind of 
electricity. 






The Electrician’s Shop 217 


5 » 


These two sorts of electricity are called “ positive 
and 44 negative.” They always exist together. You 
cannot excite one of them without at the same time 
exciting the other. The electricity of the rubber 
and the thing rubbed are, in all cases, opposite in 
quality but equal in quantity. That is a very im¬ 
portant thing to remember. 

But what is electricity ? That is a very diffi¬ 
cult question to answer. For the present you must 
content yourself with knowing that electricity is an 
invisible and, so far as we know at present, a weight¬ 
less something , which man has learned to use to pro¬ 
duce the most wonderful results and to aid him in 
nearly everything he does. 

Electricity is so curious and uncanny in the way 
it shows itself that it is not easy to write about it 
without using a few rather difficult words and phrases, 
so perhaps we shall make things easier by a little 
explanation before we proceed with any further 
experiments. 

You probably 
know that electri¬ 
city and magne¬ 
tism are usually 
linked together in 
all the school 
books dealing 
with the subject. 

The reason for 
this is that mag¬ 
netism, which is 
a curious state 

of iron and a finiminr iiiniiiiiimiii i iiiiHiinii rniiTmniiiiiiiim 



















218 The Boy’s Workshop 

few other metals, can be, and probably is always, 
produced by the action of electricity. 

We have already said that electricity exists in a 
positive and a negative form, which attract one 
another. Apart altogether from this we know of 
electricity in two different states or conditions. In 
one it is standing still, and is known as static or 
stationary electricity. In the other it is flowing 
and is known as current or voltaic electricity. Volta 
was the name of the famous man who discovered 
current electricity. When electricity is whirling 
round in a circle it produces magnetism. When it 
is in a state of rapid vibration it produces waves 
which are very similar to light or heat waves. 

The electricity we produced in our rod and rubber 
is static. Static electricity can be produced in large 
quantities by special machines, and is sometimes 
used for lighting X-ray tubes and for healing cer¬ 
tain diseases. Both these jobs can be better and 
more conveniently done by current electricity, how¬ 
ever. Generally, it may be said that static electricity, 
though very interesting to experiment with, is no 
use, and may often be a nuisance. It is produced 
in almost every case where there is friction between 
two dissimilar substances. For instance, when the 
metal of a driving wheel comes in contact with a 
non-metallic driving belt. In such cases, where the 
air of a works is filled with very finely divided dust 
or with inflammable vapours, a spark between the 
driving band and some conductor may be very dan¬ 
gerous. Lightning is a discharge of static electricity 
between two clouds or between a cloud and the 
earth. 










The Electrician’s Shop 219 

Now we will get along to the far 
more interesting and useful current 
electricity. If you place two differ¬ 
ent metals in water that has been 
made acid with about one part in 
ten of some strong acid like sul¬ 
phuric, and join the two metals 
together with a good conductor, an 
electric current will flow through 
the conductor from one plate to the 
other. It also flows through the acidu¬ 
lated water to complete the circuit. 

Suppose one of the plates is zinc 
and the other is copper, you will 
have a simple electric cell, such as 
Volta experimented with. A number of such cells 
connected together is called a “ battery.” In his 
Electricity and Magnetism , Dr. Silvanus Thompson 
has described the action of such a cell in language 
so clear and simple that we cannot do better than 
quote it in full. He says : 44 This cell is capable of 
supplying a continuous flow of electricity through a 
wire whose ends are brought into connection with 
the two plates. When the current flows the zinc 
plate is observed to waste away ; its consumption, 
in fact, furnishes the energy required to drive the 
current through the cell and connecting wire. The 
cell may, therefore, be regarded as a sort of chemical 
furnace in which fuel is consumed to drive the cur¬ 
rent. The zinc is the fuel, the acid is the aliment, 
whilst the copper is merely a metallic hand let down 
into the cell to pick up the current and takes no 
part chemically.” (Fig. 2 shows this simple cell 






















































220 The Boy’s Workshop 

and the direction of the current.) The copper plate 
from which the current starts on its journey through 
the external circuit is called the “ positive pole,” 
whilst the zinc, through which it returns into the 
cell, is called the “ negative pole.” 

Such a cell is called a “ primary cell,” and all 
primary cells work on the same principle though 
the many forms differ in the metals used and in the 
exciting fluid. In most commercial batteries—such 
as those used for working electric bells and for light¬ 
ing small lamps—carbon is used instead of copper, 
because carbon is very cheap and is not acted on by 
acid. Copper is liable to be acted on by the acid 
when the battery is not working. So-called “ dry 
batteries ” are composed of cells in which the exciting 
fluid has been absorbed by some porous substance 
so that it will not spill out of the cell. 

A “ secondary cell ” is one in which electricity 
is passed into the cell, producing certain chemical 
changes in the metal plates. When the circuit is 
completed, after the cell has been charged, the 
chemical action reverses itself and the electricity 
flows out again. Such cells are called “ accumu¬ 
lators.” 

It is well to remember that electricity, like all 
other forms of energy, cannot be produced without 
work. It may be only the work done in the evapora¬ 
tion of water under the rays of the sun ; but such 
work, proceeding over enormous spaces, is sufficient 
to bank up electric pressure in the clouds until we 
have the terrific disruptive discharge which shows 
itself in a lightning flash. It may be chemical work 
in a cell, or mechanical work in a dynamo or other 








The Electrician’s Shop 221 


machine. To produce electricity you 
must have work. And electricity, 
being produced by work, will do work 
in its turn. 

Here is a little experi¬ 
ment which you can do 
whilst you are thinking 
about your simple cell. It 
will introduce you to one of the most 
useful things we know about electri¬ 
city—the fact that when it goes round 
in a circle it will produce magnetism. 

Fix your zinc and copper plates 
into a cork or piece of wood so that 
they will float freely. (Fig. 3 shows 
the whole apparatus.) Now wind F; g 3 

several turns—about a dozen—of thin 
cotton-covered copper wire round a round ruler or 



other rod about an inch in diameter, and fix the 
ends to the zinc and copper plates as shown in the 
sketch. Float your plates in a dish containing dilute 
sulphuric acid. You know that electricity is being 
produced and is flowing round the coils of wire from 
the copper to the zinc. If one pole of a bar or rod 
magnet is now presented to the open face of the 
coil it will be attracted or repelled according to 
the pole that is presented. If you thrust the 
magnet right into the coil when it is trying to get 
away, and then hold the magnet still, the coil will 
be strongly repelled, will draw itself off the magnet, 
and will turn round so as to present its other face 
and will then be drawn up on to the magnet 
again. What is happening is that magnetic lines 























































222 The Boy’s Workshop 

of force are being produced within the coil by the 
electric current flowing round the coil. With mag¬ 
netism, as with electricity, like repels like, and when 
the north-seeking end of the magnet is presented to 
the north-seeking face of the coil, there is at once 
strong mutual repulsion. If the coil were stationary 
and the magnet were suspended, the magnet would 
move and twist itself about. This experiment 
always produces shouts of delight when performed 
before those who know little or nothing about elec¬ 
tricity. The effect of the moving coil is most 
uncanny. 

This power that electricity has of producing 
magnetism when it goes round in a circle is the basis 
of most machines by means of which electricity is 
made to do work. Let us investigate a little by 
means of experiments. 

A very useful piece of apparatus to have is an 
electro-magnet, and a small one can very easily be 
made, even by boys who are not clever with their 
fingers. All that you require is a small bundle of 
soft iron wire or a short piece of round iron rod and a 
few yards of cotton-covered wire. The wire should 
be about size No. 22 ; but any wire that is covered 
will do provided that it is not too small. You must 
bind the cotton-covered wire round your rod or 
bundle of iron wires, taking care to get each turn as 
tight as possible and even, so that each turn touches 
the last put on. Wind on three or four layers, or as 
many as the length of your wire will allow—in any 
case you won’t want more than six. When you have 
finished winding, dip the whole magnet in a small 
bath of melted wax—the wax from melted candle 






The Electrician’s Shop 223 

ends will do very well—and let it dry hard, which 
will not take many minutes. Then attach the two 
free ends of your copper cotton-covered wire to the 
two poles of an electric battery. You will find that 
so long as any current is flowing round the core , as the 
iron rod or iron wire bundle is called, it will act as a 
magnet, picking up iron and steel objects and deflect¬ 
ing compass needles. Directly the current is cut 
off the core stops acting as a magnet. 

Warning .—When doing experiments do not 
attempt to use the current from the electric-light 
main. It is far too powerful for you to handle unless 
you have a great deal of knowledge and special 
apparatus. 

For most of the experiments you will be able to 
do, all that you will want is a fair size dry battery, 
or a battery of three or four good bichromate cells. 
Most electricity-supply firms sell such batteries quite 
cheaply. The Leclanche cells used to ring electric 
bells will do very well for some experiments. 

And now, so that we may know what we are talk¬ 
ing about, we must leave off thinking of electro¬ 
magnets for a short time, whilst we consider how 
electricity is measured. 

Just as in measuring water which is flowing you 
can measure the amount of water that passes a gn en 
point in a given time, and as you can measure the pres¬ 
sure or “ force ” of the water, so, with electricity, you 
can measure the current which is passing (amperes) 
or the pressure (volts). Get these two names clear 
in your mind. Static electricity gives no current, 
for it is standing still in its usual state. It can, 
however, give enormous pressure, or voltage. A 






224 The Boy’s Workshop 

quite small machine, like a 12-in. plate Wimshurst 
machine, will easily generate pressure of 50,000 volts, 
but it gives no current at all. An ordinary dry bat¬ 
tery gives a pressure of about 4 volts ; but it gives 
a current of 1 or 2 amperes. The enormous voltage 
of a Wimshurst machine, without any current, will 
cause a disruptive discharge through air ; but it will 
do no useful work. The 4 volts of a dry battery, 
associated with a quite small flow of current, will 
light an electric lamp or drive a small toy motor. 

In magnetizing your iron bar it is the amount 
of current flowing that governs the strength of the 
magnetization. 

Now we will look at a simple electric machine. 
Here is a diagram of an electric bell. You probably 
have such a bell in your house and can watch it at 
work. The very simplest kind of bell is one that 
has a hammer attached to the end of a steel spring. 
When a push switch closes the battery circuit the 

electric current flows round 
the coils of the electric mag¬ 
net, turns the core into a 
magnet and the steel spring 
is attracted towards it, caus¬ 
ing the hammer to strike the 
bell. This sort of bell only 
gives one stroke each time 
the circuit is closed. To 
make it vibrate and ring con¬ 
tinuously so long as the 
switch is closed, all that is 
necessary is to provide some 
way in which the circuit will 



Fig. 4.—An Electric Bell 















The Electrician’s Shop 225 

be opened directly the spring is attracted towards 
the gong. 

Look at a bell or at the diagram and you will see 
how easily this can be done. The wire from one 
pole of the battery is led through the switch to one 
end of the coil. The wire from the other pole of the 
battery is connected to a little point which presses 
against the back of the hammer spring. The end of 
the spring away from the hammer is connected with 
the other end of the magnet coil. Directly the 
switch is closed the current can flow right round the 
coil. The core becomes a magnet and the spring is 
attracted to the core. Immediately this happens the 
path of the current is broken where the point touched 
the spring. The core ceases to be a magnet, the 
spring flies back and makes connexion with the 
point again. At once the current flows through again 
and the whole operation is repeated. This goes on 
continuously so long as the switch is closed. A little 
complicated to explain, is it not ?—but very easy to 
understand with the aid of a diagram or a working 
bell. Try to make a bell for yourself. It is really 
quite easy, and you will learn a great deal. Use 
small wire for the magnet—about No. 30 . 

We have seen that magnetism can be generated 
in an iron core by the action of electricity flowing 
round it. Now let us reverse the operation and see 
if we can generate electricity by some movement of 
a magnet. For this experiment you will need a gal¬ 
vanometer, and, since such a piece of apparatus is 
always useful for detecting weak currents, you 
should make one. The cheapest will cost you five 
or six shillings to buy, but you can make one for 


o 







226 The Boy’s Workshop 

next to nothing if you have in your possession an 
old compass needle with sufficient magnetism in it to 
turn north and south when it is freely suspended on 
a needle point. Place your needle on its pivot in a 
small wooden box. If the box is square it is easier 
to work with. Across the box and right round it, 
as shown in the sketch, wind, closely and tightly, a 
couple of dozen turns of No. 36 cotton-covered copper 
wire. If you have no 36 wire but have some a few sizes 
larger, it will do nearly as well. The object of using 
fine wire is to get as many turns as possible into the 
smallest space. Connect the two ends of the wire 
to two terminals or to two brass screws, and your 
galvanometer is complete. 

Now for the experiment (Fig. 5 ). Connect your 
electro-magnet with the core removed to the galvano- 
scope terminals. Now approach an ordinary magnet 
rapidly to the end of the coil. Immediately you 
will see that the needle of the galvanometer is de¬ 
flected, proving that an electric current has flowed 
from the coil round the instrument. Notice that the 
current is only generated whilst either the magnet or 
the coil is moving. If you have a big horseshoe 
magnet and can fix up an arrangement to keep the 
coil continuously revolving between the poles, you 
will get a series of electric impulses. 

It is on this principle that the dynamo or electric 
generator works. The current is produced every time 
the coil cuts across the lines of magnetic force that 
radiate from the poles of the magnet. Since electro¬ 
magnets can be made thousands of times stronger 
than any ordinary magnet, electro-magnets are used 
to produce the magnetic field. The coil of wire is 





The Electrician’s Shop 


22 7 


suitably mounted on an iron core for the purpose of 
concentrating the lines of magnetic force. The coil 
is called the armature . In small dynamos it is usual 
to revolve the armature between the poles of the 
magnet, but in very big machines the magnet 
revolves and the armature is stationary. The ends 
of the armature coil, or coils, for the armature is 
usually built up of several coils on one core, are con¬ 
nected to copper rings mounted on the driving shaft. 
From these rings the current is collected by copper 
or carbon brushes 
pressing against 
them. 

The current 
from such a dy¬ 
namo is an alter¬ 
nating one, for 
the current flows 
first in one direc¬ 
tion and then in 
the other, as first one side of the coil and then the 
other is presented to the poles. If a direct or 
continuous current is required, the rings on the 
driving shaft are replaced by rings cut up into sec¬ 
tions and having each section insulated from all the 
others. Each of these sections is connected to a 
section of the armature coil. Two brushes are used, 
so arranged that one is touching one of the ring 
sections when the current is flowing in a positive 
direction, and the other is touching when the current 
is negative. In this way the current from one brush 
is always positive and from the other always negative, 
and the current flowing in one direction. 



















228 The Boy’s Workshop 

Most dynamos in big works are constructed to 
deliver an alternating current, as, for various reasons, 
such a current is much easier to work with. 

Of course, a dynamo has to be driven by some 
power, and you can never get out of it the same horse¬ 
power that you put into it. Even in the most effi¬ 
cient machines something is wasted in friction and 
in overcoming the electrical resistance of the wire. 
The utility of the dynamo lies in the fact that power 
for a large number of places can be generated in one 
centre. This cuts down waste enormously, so that, 
apart altogether from the convenience of electric 
light, it is very good business to drive machinery, in 
small works, from power mains. 

Now that we have discussed the production of 
electricity from mechanical power by the movement 
of a coil in a magnetic field, we will turn back again 
to considering the work that can be done by electri¬ 
city. Though the electric bell is a very simple 
example of the work that can be done by electricity, 
the very simplest is the production of light and heat. 

Electricity is carried in copper wires sufficiently 
large to present practically no resistance to the 
current. Even copper, which is a good conductor, 
resists the current a little ; but in wire of the right 
size for a given current there is very little waste. 
Immediately you put resistance into an electric cir¬ 
cuit, by restricting the size of the wire or by inter¬ 
posing a length of wire made of a conductor not so 
good as copper, the current has to work to overcome 
the resistance. When electricity, or any other form 
of energy, works some result is produced. Resist¬ 
ance usually gives rise to heat. Slide downstairs 





The Electrician’s Shop 229 

on the stair rail. Your hands, or other part of your 
body in contact with the rail, become hot owing to the 
friction caused by the resistance. The rail becomes 
hot also. It is possible to set fire to wood by rubbing 
it hard enough and long enough. 

Resistance, then, gives rise to heat. This is the 
principle used in simple heating apparatus. A 
length of wire that is not a good conductor is embedded 
in a sheet of asbestos or other fire-resisting stuff, and 
is put in an electric circuit. 

The wire becomes hot 
owing to the resistance, 
and can be used to give 
the heat necessary to 
warm a room or boil a 
kettle, or even to warm 
the clothing of airmen or 
Arctic explorers. 

If the bad conductor 

is placed in a glass globe Fig 6 ._ Section of Dynamo 
from which nearly all the 
air has been exhausted, and it is made of the right 
material, it can be made sufficiently hot to give out a 
brilliant white light, without consuming the wire. The 
arc light is on altogether a different principle. To 
begin with, it needs a rather heavy current, whereas 
the incandescent lamp works with a very light one. 
Most incandescent lamps use something under 2 am¬ 
peres. The arc lamp, in its simplest form, is just two 
rods of carbon touching at the tips, through which a 
heavy current is passing. The resistance of the carbon, 
particularly where the two rods touch, is so great 
as to cause the carbon to boil and turn into vapour, 

















230 The Boy’s Workshop 

particularly at the positive carbon. If the two rods 
are now separated a short distance the current is 
still able to pass, because the very hot carbon vapour 
is a much better conductor than air. The current 
passes in the form of a flame, not as a spark. The 
light is very intense and is, in fact, too white and 
blinding for use in small rooms. 

Now we come to the electric motor, which is, in 
fact, but a dynamo reversed. Indeed, it is stated 
that the principle of the motor was discovered at an 
exhibition in Paris many years ago by the reversing 
of a dynamo. The story runs that an attendant 
whose duty it was to look after the machinery noticed 
that the cables of a dynamo were disconnected from 
the terminals. He replaced them and, to his intense 
astonishment, the dynamo immediately began to 
revolve, apparently without any driving power. 
When the matter was investigated it was found that 
the other ends of the cables were connected to a 
dynamo in another part of the building. Whether 
the yarn is true or not, it is quite possible to make 
a dynamo into a motor, or a motor into a dynamo. 
The current for working a motor is supplied to copper 
or carbon brushes, which press on a split ring just as 
already described in talking about a direct current 
dynamo. The current also flows round the coil of a 
powerful electric field magnet between the poles of 
which the armature revolves. The current acts on 
the field magnet all the time, making one pole always 
north and the other always south. In the armature 
the split ring is connected to sections of the armature 
winding so that its poles are opposite in polarity so 
long as they are approaching a pole of the field 





The Electrician’s Shop 231 


magnet, but the same in polarity directly they reach 
it. The effect of this is that the field magnet pulls 
the armature poles towards it, and then, when the 
polarity changes, pushes it away. By this means a 
continuous rotary movement is set up. You will find 
this quite easy to understand if you look at the simple 
diagram on page 229 (Fig. 6). 



Bell Push 


A Dry Cell 


induction. Just as you can generate magnetism 
by making your current move round in a circle, and 
can generate electricity by making a coil of wii e 
rapidly cut across lines of magnetic force, so you can 
induce electricity in a wire by holding it near and 
parallel with another wire along which a current is 
passing. If you go out and look at the ncaiest 
telephone or telegraph poles and their wires, you will 
see that the wires are carefully arranged so that they 























232 The Boy’s Workshop 

are not parallel. That is to say, a wire that starts 
from the right-hand bottom insulator of one pole 
does not go to the right-hand bottom insulator of the 
next pole. It goes one higher up, and the wire from 
the left-hand bottom comes over to take its place. 
This is to prevent the inducing of current between 
wire and wire that would take place if all the wires 
were parallel. In such a case all the messages would 
be so mixed up that it would be impossible for any¬ 
body to read them. 

This capability of electricity to induce electricity 
in another wire not touching it is closely associated 
with the phenomena we have already seen in the 
mutual power of electricity to induce magnetism 
and magnetism to induce electricity. 

Having read so far, you should be in a position 
to understand any piece of electrical apparatus 
which you may come across, for they all act on 
the principles which we have here described. For 
instance, the telegraph is only, in its main features, 
the apparatus we have discussed in describing the 
electric bell. The attraction of a magnet is made 
to pull a piece of steel attached to a spring. In the 
simplest form the message is read by sound. In more 
up-to-date forms the end of the spring carries a pen 
which prints dots and dashes against a moving tape. 






Section VII.—MISCELLANEOUS 


HOW TO MAKE A TENNIS RACKET 

PRESS 



TENNIS racket press, such as that shown in 


Fig* 1> is readily made from any close-grained 
wood about J in. thick. Laying the racket on a 
sheet of paper the best size for the two frames may 
be marked out with a pencil, remembering that the 
screws should come outside. The frames are put 
together as in Fig. 2, either making simple halved 
joints (Fig. 3 ), or tenoned ones. Well glue the joints 
and place the frames under weights till set, then 
drive in a small brad at each corner for further 
security, keeping these, of course, away from where 
the holes are to be bored for the winged nuts and 


bolts. 


Four of the latter, of the shape illustrated by 
Fig. 4 , and __ 
long enough to 


ironmonger. 

Holes are then 
made in the p (G , 


chased from an 


should be pur- 


place between, 


both frames 
when the 
racket is in 



F.g 3 


F.g.4 


233 




































234 The Boy’s Workshop 

corners of each frame, of sufficient diameter to admit 
the screw-bolts freely, but not too loosely. Finally, 
the frames may be nicely smoothed up with glass- 
paper, the bolts inserted, the winged nuts screwed on, 
and the press is complete. 

A still simpler pattern consists of two small J-in. 
boards out as in Fig. 5 , and used in the same way 
as the frames. Though less ornamental, some 
people"preferThis’ solidtypejof press. 







TWO POCKET-LIGHTERS 


pIIE two pocket-lighters shown by the accom- 
panying illustrations were made from cartridge 
cases and parts of discarded lighters. 

In Fig. 1 the two cases are bound together by 
thin copper bands J in. wide. The case a, which 
carries the petrol and wick, has a snugly fitting screw 
in the base for charging purposes, and the mouth is 
closed by a plug of brass b, through the centre of 
which passes the piece of fine tube for the wick. 
These are sweated in with solder. The cap c is a 
revolver cartridge case. In the mouth of case D is 
fitted the striker e, which has a piece of tube slotted 
at the top to carry the wheel. It was necessary to 
solder a brass sleeve on this tube to make it fit the 
mouth of the case. As the spring which holds up the 
flint was missing, a fresh one was obtained from the 
spring contacts of an electric lamp-socket. 

When the fittings of the two cases are complete, 
the cases can be bound together. The top band is 
soldered round one case and the bottom band round 
the other. The loose ends can then be bent round 
their respective cases and soldered. By adopting 
this method it is an easy matter to get the cases in 
line with one another. Fig. 2 shows how the bands 
encircle the cases. 

The lighter (Fig. 3 ) has no screw in the bottoms 
being charged from the top. A plug of brass G fits 
the case very tightly, and to facilitate its removal 
with a pair of pliers the projecting portion is filed 

235 


236 The Boy’s Workshop 


square (see f, Fig. 3 ). A hole ^ in. in diameter was 
bored through the plug to take the wick. The cap, 
not shown, was a revolver cartridge case. 


Fig. l 




Fig. 2.— 
Diagram 
showing how 
Cases are 
bound to¬ 
gether 



Figs. 1 and 3.—Front Elevations of Lighters 
(Parts in Section) 




Fig. 4. Pattern for Wheel Support 


Pig. 5.—Diagram 
showing how Case 
and Tube are 
bound together 































































































































































Miscellaneous 237 

The wheel and flint tube were separate, so a piece 
of sheet brass was cut to the pattern (Fig. 4 ) and bent 
round the tube, which was then soldered in position. 
The top portion was then filed to accommodate the 
wheel. Most wheels have teeth like a ratchet wheel, 
and the points when striking the flint must be pro¬ 
ceeding towards the wick. It is an easy matter to 
fix the wheel wrong way round, as the teeth are so 
small. When this part is complete the narrow arms 
of the brass can be bent round the case, as shown in 
Fig. 5 , and soldered in position. 





A CHEAP AND USEFUL POCKET 

COMPASS 


I T is supposed that the reader possesses an ordinary 
brass boxed compass such as can be bought 
for a shilling or two, and that he possesses the 
necessary small amount of mechanical skill to 
make and affix the additional parts here illustrated 
and described. 

One of these parts is the post or pillar d holding 
the horsehair sight f, and also the connecting bar 
c, one end of the latter being riveted to the top 
hinge b. This flat-shaped post d is hinged at the 
bottom of the compass box m, so that when the 
compass is not in use the mirror A can be folded 
flat against one side of d, and the other side of d 
can be folded flat against the bottom of the compass 
box m, and the other part soldered to the post d. 

The connecting strap c is attached by means of 
rivets r to d, and to the hinge b. They are not 
riveted up tight; allow a friction-tight movement 
to and fro. By this means the mirror a can be swung 
sidewise over the magnetic box, and can also be 
set at any inclination to the horizontal. This 
mirror, and the means of adjusting it, is to allow the 
north end of the needle and the portion of the card 
under it to be seen at any position or under varying 
conditions of light and shade, without the need of 
the observer taking his eye very far away from the 
sight-hole J in the pillar h. The hinge B moves 
fairly tight frictionally. 


238 


Miscellaneous 239 

The horsehair (or thread) f must be set exactly 
opposite the north mark on the card, and it is perhaps 
advisable to drill a series of small holes in d, close 
together, so that it can finally be adjusted in the 
correct position. It is secured at each end by screws 
or clips on one side of d, but not shown, n is a 
post, in the upper part of which is drilled the sight- 
hole j, to which the eye is 
applied when using the compass. 

This post h is also hinged; 
but in this case it folds 
over the top of the compass- 
box, and the hinge and 
rivets connecting the same 
to the box are shown. 

The sight-hole J is ex- * 
actly opposite the south 
mark on the com- w 
pass card. 

The glass lid of the 
box must be made to 
revolve, and on the 
glass lid is stuck or 
scratched a pointer k, 
which can therefore be turned round opposite to any 
division of the card or to any position of the magnetic 
needle. A fresh card must be drawn for the compass, 
or the old lettering must be altered, because to use 
the instrument in the way to be described (imagining 
the north and south points to remain as before) 
points must be interchanged, and also the intermediate 
points between east or west and north or south. 
Thus, for example, in the original dial, reading the 






























































240 The Boy’s Workshop 

marks from north and in a clockwise direction, 
there are : north, north-north-east, north-east, east- 
north-east, then east, and so on. In the new card, 
starting from north and reading in the same direction, 
there would be: north, north-north-west, north¬ 
west, west-north-west, then west, and so on. Simply 
mark the east where the west used to be (leaving 
north and south as before), and mark west where 
the east used to be, and it will easily be seen how the 
intermediate directions have to be altered in accord¬ 
ance. 

Now to use the instrument. Raise the sight- 
holders h and d into position, look through the hole 
J on to the horsehair f and into the country beyond 
on to some object which appears to be bisected by 
the horsehair. Glance upwards into the mirror a, 
and turn the revolving pointer k until it is exactly 
over the north end of the magnetic needle. Then 
examine the compass. The mark or division on 
the dial directly under the pointer k is the magnetic 
direction of the object on the landscape which w r as 
looked at through the sights h and d. 

To march on a given bearing, set the pointer K 
opposite the required mark on the dial, raise the 
compass to the eye, and look through the sights, 
also glancing upwards into the mirror a, and turning 
the compass round until the pointer k and the north 
ends of the magnetic needle exactly coincide. When 
they do so, looking through the sights j and d will 
show the required direction, and the horsehair 
marks the object in the surrounding country towards 
which it is required to march. 








MAKING A COLOURED SHADOW 


'T'HAT one could get a coloured shadow from a 
black opaque object does not seem very prob¬ 
able. Yet, by a little experiment, it is possible to 
show that this can be done in certain circumstances. 
The plan is quite easy to carry out, and a most 
beautiful effect is secured. 

For the purpose there will be required two candles, 
a sheet of black cardboard, and two sheets of glass, one 
coloured red and the other green. If it is not possible 
to get the black cardboard, paint over the ordinary 
kind, or paste a sheet of black paper over it. As 
well, too, there may be some difficulty in securing 
the coloured glass. Where this is the case plain glass 
may be coated with the varnish hat dyes of the desired 
shade. Spread the dye on the glass as evenly as 
possible so as to avoid blotches. The pieces of glass 
might be about 8 inches wide by 10 or 11 inches high, 
although there is no reason for any special size so 
long as they are somewhat taller than they are wide. 
In measurement both sheets should be exactly the 
same. Now, from the black cardboard, cut two 
pieces of a similar size to the glass. Out of the glass 
and the cardboard make a box without top or bottom. 
The sheet of green glass is on one side, and the red 
on the other. To join the glass and the cardboard 
paste strips of paper at the four corners of the 
box. 

Now from the black cardboard cut a shape 
to represent the wings of a butterfly. Also cut 

241 


p 


242 The Boy’s Workshop 

out a shape that shall act as the body of the in¬ 
sect. Then take the wings, and holding them in an 
upright position, fix them with glue or any similar 
adhesive to the body. The shape is put cross-wise 
over the body so that this acts as a little stand for 
keeping the wings up. It is now time to carry out 
the experiment to show that coloured shadows are 
possible. 

Put a sheet of white paper on the table, and stand 
the four-sided box on it. Now place a candle, one 
on either side of the box, a few inches away. One 
candle is next to the red glass and the other close to 
the green glass. Light the candles and put out all 
other illumination in the room, or darken it if the 
experiment is carried out in the daytime. Look down 
through the top of the box and you will see that the 
floor of the box is white, even though the lights 
falling upon it are green and red. This is because 
red and green lights are complementary and, where 
they fall together, the effect is that of a white light. 

Now put your butterfly in the centre of the box, 
standing it so that the one face of the wings is opposite 
the green glass, and the other opposite to the red glass. 

Look down 
into the box, 
and you will 
see a most 
beautifully 
coloured 
shadow of a 
butterfly. The 

Making a Coloured Shadow. How the front pair of 
candles, etc., are placed wings is bright 

















Miscellaneous 243 

red whilst the hindermost pair is of a splendid green. 
The wings show white discs in the corners, and this 
adds to the general effect. One docs not soon tire 
of looking at the coloured shadow butterfly. 

The butterfly on the paper is simply the shadow 
of the upright paper shape which is black and opaque. 
The reason why the shadow is so prettily coloured is 
on the following lines. As was seen before, the shape 
was put in wherever the red and green light fall 
together, the floor of the box is white. On the other 
hand, where the opaque object intercepts the green 
light, only the paper remains red ; where the red light 
is stopped the paper will be green. Thus one gets 
the finely coloured shadow butterfly. 






MAKING A TOOL-SHED AND SHELTER 


F IGURE 1 offers a suggestion for a very easily and 
cheaply made tool-shed and shelter, the making 
of which will neither be very costly nor tax the skill 
of the average handy man. 

The shed is constructed in sections consisting of 
a front, two sides, a back and a roof, which are made 
separately and screwed together. A seat is fitted 
to the interior of the shed. The framework could 
be of deal, covered with grooved and tongued match- 
boarding. The sizes to which the shed should be 
made are shown in the illustrations. It will not be 
advisable to interfere with the height of the shed, 
but, if desired, it could be made either larger or 
smaller on plan. The dimensions 3 ft. wide by 3 ft. 
6 in. deep will give a shed of very useful size ; for 
those who require a smaller shed, these dimensions 
could be reduced to 2 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft., and this will, 
of course, result in a saving of material. 

The front framework of the shed, which is shown 
by Fig. 3 , consists of two side rails 6 ft. 6 in. long 
by 3 in. wide by 1 in. thick, top rail 3 ft. long by 
3 in. deep by 1 in. thick, and a bottom rail, 2 ft. 
8 J in. long by 2 in. deep by 1 in. thick. The top 
and side rails are half lapped and screwed together, 
as shown by Fig. 8, and the bottom rail is screwed 
to the inside of the side rails (Fig. 3), a space of 
If in. being allowed between the ends of the bottom 
rails and the outer edges of the side rails for the 
thickness of the side of the shed. 


244 


Miscellaneous 245 

The framework of the sides, which is shown by 
Fig. 4 , consists of a front rail 6 ft. 6 in. long, back 
rail 5 ft. 9 in. long, and top, middle and bottom 
rails which are 3 ft. G in. long by 2 in. wide 
by 1 in. thick. 

The frame¬ 
work is half- 
lapped and 
screwed to- 
g e t h e r as 
shown by 
Fig. 8. Stmts, 
which would 
be of a similar 
section to the 
framework, 
are fitted from 
the front bot¬ 
tom corner to 
the back of the 
middle rail, 
and from this 
point to the 
top front cor¬ 
ner. The sides 
are covered on 
the outside 
with § in. matchboarding. The back is made to 
the dimensions shown in Fig. 5 , being formed with 
f in. matchboarding, which is held together at the 
top with a batten 2 ft. 8| in. long by 2 in. deep by 
1 in. thick. Struts which are 2 in. wide by 1 in. 
should be fixed diagonally between the battens (Fig. 5 ). 





Fig. 1.—Shed and Shelter Complete 








































Fig. 2.—Sectional Elevation 
showing Interior 



Fig. 3.—Front 
Framework 



246 























































































































Miscellaneous 247 



Fig. 9.—Fixing Sides, Front 
and Back Together 


The front, sides and backs are fixed together as 
shown by Figs. 7 and 9. The sides fit between the 
front and back, and screws are driven through the 
front and back into the sides. 

A floor could be provided, being formed of 1 in. 
boards, which rest on the top edges of the bottom 
members of the framework, and are suppoited in the 
middle with a bearer, as shown by the dotted lines 
in Fig. 7. A seat should be fitted across the back 
of the house, as shown in Fig. 2, and should be 1 ft. 













































































248 The Boy’s Workshop 

6 in. wide, formed with 1 in. boards, resting on cleats 
fixed to the sides of the shed. The seat should be 
1 ft. 6 in. high, and higher at the front than back. 

The roof could be formed with £ in. or 1 in. 
grooved and tongued boards, which run from the 
front to the back of the shed and are held together 
with two cross battens, as shown by Fig. 10. It 
should overhang about 3 in. at the sides and back, 
and about 8 in. at the front, while it is either screwed 
or nailed to the top edges of the front, sides and back. 
The roof should be covered with roofing felt or 
canvas, the wood having been well painted. 

The door of the shed is made up of £-in. match¬ 
boarding as shown by Fig. 6, being held together 
by two cross battens about 6 in. by 1 in. in sections, 
and a diagonal batten about 3 in. by 1 in. in section. 
The door is hung on the right-hand side with a pair 
of long flap T-hinges, as shown in Fig. 1, and it should 
also be provided with a lock and key. A small fillet 
should be fitted to the shutting edge of the door, 
as shown in Fig. 11. 

Ordinary boards, of almost any width, could be 
used for covering the shed, if desired, instead of the 
matchboards ; but it will be well in that case to cover 
the joints with fillets, as shown in Fig. 12. 

The shed when complete should rest on a row of 
bricks. The work should be finished with oil paint. 



Fig. 11— Fillet 
Fixed to Shut¬ 
ting Edge of 
Door 




Fig. 12.— 
Method of 
Covering Joint 

























KITE MAKING AND KITE FLYING 


W HEN all is said and done it is waste of time, 
in these days, to worry with making and 
flying anything but some form or other of box kite. 
Some of the old-fashioned forms of kite look pretty 
on paper and they look prettier still when they are 
eut out and made ; but unless they have been put 
together very exactly, with the weights on each 
side very evenly balanced, they are far from pretty 
in the air. In fact their behaviour is nothing less 
than exasperating. Besides which the old-fashioned 
forms, or most of them, require a fairly strong wind to 
get up off the ground, and have to be run with before 
they will rise. The box kite will fly in quite light 
breezes, and can be sent up with no running at all. 

Now, in case, after having read this, you imagine 
that a box kite can be flung together anyhow and 
still give good results, it must be said straight away 
that though a box kite is easy to make, far easier 
than any other kind, it must be made carefully. 
For one thing it is essential in kite making that the 
weight should be small compared with the lifting 
surfaces, and this result cannot be obtained without 
fairly careful workmanship. You need not be a 
genius with your fingers, but you must go at it 
slowly and carefully. 

Before you attempt to build or fly a big kite 
you should experiment with a small one. You may 
not want to play about with a small kite but it will 
pay you in the end to do so. 

249 


250 The Boy’s Workshop 

The smallest box kite with which you can hope 
to get good results is one about two and a half feet 
long. Flown with a light cord this will go to a good 
height with a fair wind and will teach you a great 



deal. Make it just as carefully as you intend to 
make your bigger kite. Later on, when you have 
gained in experience, you can fly the little kite in 
tandem with the big one. 

To make such a kite you will require four perfectly 
straight strips of light wood—spruce is the best—30 in. 
long by | in. wide by J in. thick. These are to be 
the lengthways stiffeners of your kite. The diagonal 
stiffeners are formed by four 19^ in. lengths of spruce 
about y 1 ^ in. thicker and wider than the first. Fig. 1 
will show you the form of kite you are about to make 
and will explain where these pieces of spruce are to 
be in the finished article. 

You must now make notches in the ends of the 















Miscellaneous 251 

diagonal stretchers to enable them to firmly grip the 
long pieces when they are set edgeways. To do this 
without weakening the wood unduly the best plan 
is to mark off a line £ in. from the end going £ in. 
across the wood. Look at Fig. 2 and you will s^e 
the sort of cut that you should make. Make the 
cuts on opposite sides at each end of all four of your 
diagonals. Now make eight false ends as shown in 
Fig. 2, and bind them firmly into position with thin 
twine. Give the twine a coating of varnish, or, if 
you have no varnish, baste them well with the wax 
of melted candle ends. 

Now you can proceed with the making of the 
cells of the kite. These are best made of light strong 
cloth ; but you can make them of strong paper if 
you like. The beauty of cloth is that it will last a 
long time. The kind called nainsook is the best; 
but one of the best flying kites I ever made was 
covered with a portion of an old silk dress of my 
mother’s. If you can get hold of a really strong 
piece of silk you cannot ask anything better. It 
must be strong, though. Some kinds of silk will 
rip and tear the very first time they are up in a 
strong wind. 

The cloth or silk or paper, or whatever you are 
going to make your cells from, should be in two strips 
10 in. wide and 56| in. long. The edges should be 
turned over about half an inch on each side and fine 
strong twine inserted the whole length. If you 
are using paper you must glue the fold down ; but 
if you use cloth the fold must be stitched, ou 
can run it through a sewing machine, or get your 
mother or sister to do it for you. Remembei to 






252 The Boy’s Workshop 

get a stitch through the twine every now and again 
to hold it in position. Now glue or stitch the two 
ends together with a f in. overlap so as to make two 
continuous bands. 

When the cells are completed so far, divide them 
accurately into four by folding. Here you must 
be very careful for some portion of the steadiness of 
the kite depends on getting the sides of the cells 
as truly spaced as possible. Mark the divisions by 
creasing them and in each crease glue one of your 
long stretchers, which you have previously notched 
4 in. from each end to take the diagonal stretchers. 
Look at Figs. 2 and 3 and you will see clearly what 



you have to do. The long stretchers must be glued 
in endways with strong fish glue. In building 
bigger kites it is advisable to sew in little bands at 
about 6 in. intervals in which the long stretchers 
























Miscellaneous 253 

can lie, instead of gluing them. You can do this 
in this kite if you like. It certainly makes a better 
job of it. If you do this you will require strong 
cloth or light leather pockets at the end corners of 
the cells to take the ends of the long stretchers. 
There is a good deal of movement and friction here 
when the kite is flying and, unless the pockets are 
well made, the stretchers will quickly work through. 

When the long stretchers are in place and well 
dry, if glued the diagonals can be inserted. In the 
sketches they are shown bound where they cross. 
This is done when the kite is not meant to take to 
pieces. If you have glued in the long stretchers it 
is well to put the diagonals permanently in place. 
If you have fitted loops and pockets to the creases 
of the cells so that the long stretchers can be removed, 
it is a good plan to bore the diagonals so that they 
can be fixed together with a tiny bolt and wing nut. 
Use the smallest, lightest bolt and nut you can get 
hold of. Some makers of model aeroplane parts 
make and sell bolts and nuts of aluminium. These 
are the very thing. If you do this the kite can be 
taken to pieces for carrying and folded up smaller 
than an umbrella. 

When the kite is together the ends should be 
truly square, or very nearly so, and the cells should 
each be between 8 in. and 9 in. long, with 13 in. 
or 14 in. separated by a distance of 13 in. or 14 in. 
The flying line should be attached about 1 in. from 
the bottom of the top cell. There is no need to use a 
bridle; but you may have to make one or two experi¬ 
ments before you get the exact place of attachment. 
This depends somewhat on the balance of the kite. 






254 


The Boy’s Workshop 


\ ou are now in a position to make a box kite of 
any size you like ; but remember that box kites of 
moie than 4 ft. or 5 It. high need strong cord or even 
wire, and very powerful winding apparatus to let 
them up and pull them in. To make bigger kites, 
stick to the proportions here given, multiplying them 
by the necessary figures to give the correct result. 
Multiply all the figures, not only some of them. 
For instance if you want to make a kite twice the 
size ol the one described multiply all the figures 
oy two. Thus the length of the long stretchers will 
be 60 in. and the width of the cell material before 
turning in the hems would be 20 in. Here you have 
to use a little common sense. The actual length 
of the cell is only about 8 in., and as we turn in about 
hall an inch on each side and twice 8 and 16, the actual 

width of the cell material before turning in need 
not be more than 17 or 18 in. 

The small kite you have first made can be flown 
with an ordinary hand winder. The cord should 
e fine but strong. Ordinary string is quite useless, 
tor it is full of weak places and will break very easily 
i it gets an extra hard jerk, as may easily happen 
when the wind suddenly puffs up. Unwaterproofed 
sea-fishing line is excellent. For this small kite you 
wi 1 require the finest you can got. On a good day 
the kite will run out more than three hundred yards 
ol it. In a wind such a kite should easily rise 1,500 
it. in the air. Even when it is pulling well it will 
net er y stiaight overhead; so, if you have made 
your kite really well and want to get the most out 
ol it you may have to provide yourself with 600 yds. 
or more of cord. Be modest at the start, however. 








Miscellaneous 


255 


It is quite easy to join on more cord it you find 
you have not enough, whereas it is foolish to buy 
twice the amount of cord that your kite will lift. 

As we have said, kites of 5 ft. and over require 
something more powerful in the way of winding 
apparatus than the ordinary hand winder. They 
can pull like a horse and want managing. The best 
kind of winch is one that stands on a big box, the 
interior of which can be filled with earth or stones. 
Unless the kites you are flying are very big indeed 
a 1 ft. length of ordinary cornice pole with a couple 
of 8 in. diameter circular pieces screwed to the ends 
to make a reel of it will do very well for your winder. 
Mount it securely to two posts fastened with screws 
to your base box. One axle should be a piece of 
i in. steel rod running in a brass tube that is fixed 
in the post. The axle on the other side should also 
be on J in. rod bent to form a handle. On this side, 
if you can manage it, fix a toothed wheel and rachet 
to the outside of the drum, so arranged that the 
rachet will engage and prevent the w r heel from un¬ 
winding unless it is deliberately thrown off. This 
will act as a brake and prevent the kite from taking 
charge. 

Now to the actual flying. Box kites will rise 
from the hand. They can, in fact, be flown by one 
person if there is anything of a wind. To manage 
single handed, reel off about 50 yds. of line and take 
your kite that distance from your winch or winder 
which must be securely fastened. Wait until the 
wind is blowing evenly and then, holding the kite 
well above your head, launch it against the wind. 
Immediately the wind should act on the plane sur- 







256 The Boy’s Workshop 

faces of the cells and cause it to lift against the drag 
of the cord. Directly you see that it is off, run back 
towards your winch, giving a little pull on the line 
as you go if the kite seems to be failing to rise properly. 
If all has gone well the kite should be straining on 
the line by the time you have reached the winch, and 
all you will have to do is to pay out slowly letting 
the kite take all she will, until the time comes when 
the force of the wind is not sufficient to give any 
more lifting power. The height to which any kite 
will go depends on the lifting force of the wind. A 
powerful wind will naturally lift far more than a 
gentle one. The force that any wind can exercise 
depends on the surface of the cells. If you want to 
fly high you must get the biggest possible surface 
and have the least possible weight. 

When you have learned to fly a single kite pro¬ 
perly you should try flying two in tandem. Of course 
your cord must be stronger for this, as you have a 
much greater pull. If one or both of your kites are 
big ones you will probably have to use piano wire— 
the thinnest—for your cord. This will need careful 
management, for it is dreadful stuff to kink up if it 
is allowed to get off the drum. If you are going to 
use wire it is as well to construct a solid winch with 
a drum at least a foot in diameter. To fly your 
kites tandem, start one off on the main flying line. 
When it is about 100 ft. up hold it and start off 
another kite, the flying line of which you can attach 
to the main line. You will find that the second 
kite will fly clear of the line and that you will get 
the lifting power of the two added together. It is 
by means of two or three big kites flown in this 






Miscellaneous 257 

fashion that men are sometimes lifted high into 
the air for observation purposes. 

Once you have mastered the art of kite flying 
you can amuse yourself in all sorts of ways. The 
simplest is the rather childish amusement of sending 
messengers up to the kite. Any fair-sized piece of 
paper slung on the line or attached to a metal ring 
that has been placed on the line will fly up to the 
kite. 

These messengers can be made to hit against a 
trigger and release the shutter of a camera suspended 
from the line ; but the details of this arrangement 
are rather too complicated to be described here. 

Aerial photographs of considerable interest can 
be taken on bright sunny days by the simple expedient 
of slinging a camera with lense pointing downwards 
from the kite line. To the shutter, which should 
be set for “Instantaneous,” attach a thin cord. 
When the camera has been taken some hundreds of 
feet into the air, the shutter line, which has been 
paid out carefully, without jerking, should be pulled 
smartly to release the trigger. 

The ingenious kite flyer of a scientific turn of 
mind can amuse himself by sending up self-registering 
thermometers and taking readings ol air temperatures 
a thousand feet up. Oddly enough it will some¬ 
times be found that the air a thousand feet up is 
warmer than that on the earth, though, actually, it 
should be several degrees colder. 

Unfortunately it is difficult to make barometers 
self-registering, at any rate in a form sufficiently 
light to be sent up and sufficiently inexpensive to 
interest the youthful investigator. But barometers 





258 The Boy’s Workshop 

are sent up and they give an exact measurement of 
the height to which the kite has risen. 

Kites have been flown to a height of over three 
miles ; but of course they were very big and were 
flown on piano wire which was worked from a steam 
winch. 

Just one final hint. Do not leave your kite in 
the air to the very last minute before you must pack 
up and go home. Kites take a good long time to 
wind in. On a windy day a fair-sized kite may easily 
take nearly half an hour to bring down from about 
a thousand feet, even with a fair-sized winder. Do 
not do anything in a hurry, and take care of your 
kites once you have made them. If they are of the 
folding variety, spread them out when you get them 
home and give them a thorough looking over. It 
is better to spend a few minutes after every flight, 
than to have your kite collapse suddenly in the air 
and fall perhaps where you cannot recover it. 





THE MODEL SAND-MILL 


HOW TO MAKE AND WORK IT 

T O make a sand-mill that will work in a really satis¬ 
factory manner is not at all difficult, and if you 
follow the instructions given below you may easily 
make a mill that will give sufficient power to haul 
up over a crane quite heavy loads of sand, sugar, etc., 
or to work small machines if a strap is passed round 
the Cotton-reel axle to the machine it is required to 
work. 

Look first of all at Fig. 1 which really consists 
of two wooden boxes, and in the diagram these are 
marked a and b. a is the encasement, which 
though a long word, simply means the frame or 
body of the mill, b is the tank which is to contain 
the sand for working the big wheel. The two boxes 
may be any size you like, but a good, powerful mill 
may be made from an encasement about 12 in. by 
7 in., and a tank about one-third of that size. Any 
grocer will sell you two such boxes, or, if you prefer 
it, you can make them yourselves. 

Fix the smaller box in the larger, as shown in 
Fig. 1. Make a square hole in the bottom of the tank, 
through which the sand has to fall on the wheel. 

This wheel we have now to make, and, being 
the vital part of the mill, care should be exercised 

to make it true and firm. 

Procure some stout cardboard of good quality, 
and, with a pair of compasses, draw two circles 

259 


26 o 


The Boy’s Workshop 


thereon of the size that 
your wheel is to be. (This 
will depend entirely upon 
the size of the mill. It 
should be large enough to 
revolve in the encasement. 
See Fig. 7.) 

Cut out these two circles 
with a sharp pair of scissors, 
and again with your com¬ 
passes draw the small circle, 
shown in Fig. 2. Now you 
have to make flaps, ten or 
twelve in number. This is 
very simple, lor they consist of pieces of cardboard, 
cut out as shown in Fig. 3. With the point of a 
penknife prick down the dotted lines and fold them 
over at right angles, as shown in Fig. 4. The size of 

flaps should be from the outer rim of the cardboard 
circle to the outer 
edge of the inner 
circle. A glance at 
Fig. 5 will show 
exactly the size. 

The width is of 
little importance, 
but I have found 
that flaps as nearly 
as possible square 
answer best. 

Now glue these 
flaps on to one of 
the cardboard 






Fig. 1 







































Fig. 3 



26l 





































262 The Boy’s Workshop 

circles by the overturned edge. To get them an 
equal distance apart it is advisable to rule out the 
card, as shown in Fig. 5. All that you have now 
to do to complete the wheel is to glue the other 
cardboard circle on to the other side of the flaps. 
Let the wheel get thoroughly dry before touching it. 
In fact, it should be left untouched overnight. 
Fig. 6 is the conveyer, which takes away the sand 
after it has passed the wheel. To make, mark on 
your cardboard the design shown in Fig. 6, and cut 
it out. Now prick along all the dotted lines, fold 
over the top flaps and the one on the right-hand side, 
and fold down the three central lines at right angles, 
when you will find it makes a sort of square funnel. 
Fix it by means of right-hand flap with glue, and it 
is complete. To fix it to the mill you must first of 
all cut a hole in the bottom of the encasement, exactly 
the size of the top of the funnel. (This should be 
about 2J in. square.) When you have cut out this 
hole, thrust the large end of the funnel through, and 
then bend the top flaps outwards, so that they will 
overlap the edges of the hole. Fasten these flaps 
down by gluing, or better still, with small tacks. 

Now you have to fix the wheel. Simply make 
two circular holes in the exact centre of both sides 
of the wheel (about the circumference of an ordinary 
lead-pencil), make two corresponding holes in the 
encasement, and after placing the wheel in position 
thrust a wooden rod through all the holes, leaving 
about 1| in. of the rod protruding through the side 
of the encasement. The wheel must not revolve 
upon the axle, so fasten it by gluing tw r o markers 
about the size of a penny flush up to the sides of 






Miscellaneous 


263 


the wheel. Fill the creases all around the holes 
with glue, and when it is dry you will find it will be 
securely fastened to the axle. The wheel and axle 
together have to revolve in the holes made in the 
encasement, so these must be comfortably large to 
allow much freedom. An empty cotton-reel put 
upon the projecting axle makes a useful wheel over 
which to put the band which transmits the power 
to any machine that you wish to work. 

An effective crane may be made, as shown in 
the illustration, with a small cotton-reel at the 
smaller end, over which the thread easily runs. 
You have now to make a very simple slide to 
cover the hole in the bottom of the tank. A small 
piece of flat tin, fixed to a wooden rod or to a 
piece of stout wire does excellently. 


Pass the end of 
through a hole in 
make a guide by 
wood just beyond 
the tank. This 
being pushed be¬ 
lt will be seen that 
be made in the 
for the rod. The 
make all this 
Now fill the 
sand, pull back the 
revolves at a very 




Fig. 8 


the rod or wire 
the encasement, 
fixing a strip of 
the sand-hole in 
prevents the slide 
yond the opening, 
a hole also must 
side of the tank 
illustration will 
plain. 

tank with dry, fine 
slide, and the wheel 
rapid rate. 







COIN TRAYS AND BOXES 


T^IGIJRE 1 illustrates a useful type of box for 
holding trays of coins. It is of quite simple 
construction, and may be made in any desired size, 
J-in. wood being most suitable. The bottom, ends 
and back of the box are first nailed together, but 
the front has its lower edge rounded a little, and is 
pivoted in by small nails through the ends, so that 
it will let down. The advantage, of course, is 
that any tray may be reached without lifting all 
the others out. 

A serviceable coin tray is shown in Fig. 2. It 

consists of a piece of three-ply 
fretwood, £ in. thick to T 3 g in., 
in which circles of suitable sizes 
are marked with the compasses, 
and cut out carefully with a 
fretsaw. A piece of stout card¬ 
board is cut the same size for 
the bottom, the wood is well 
brushed on one side with good 
glue, and the two are pressed 
together under a weight until set, first, however, 
slipping a loop of tape or ribbon 
between the wood and the card. 

To facilitate removing the lower¬ 
most tray, it will be found con¬ 
venient to lay in the box a piece 
of plain wood that is exactly the thickness of the 
hinged flap, in order to bring the bottom level. 

264 


Q Q vQ- 
xr 

Fig. 2 








FITTING UP A NATURAL HISTORY 

MUSEUM 

I N forming a collection of butterflies and moths 
you will be astonished at the amount of know¬ 
ledge gained, not only about the insects themselves, 
but also about the flowers, trees, plants, etc., that you 
come across during your hunting expeditions. When 
once you have decided to make a really good collection, 
you must not be satisfied with only the insects 
caught, but you will also be desirous of hunting for 
the caterpillars, pupse, and breeding the specimens. 
In some cases this is the only way of getting speci¬ 
mens in good condition, as they so soon get damaged 
in the wild state. This is particularly noticeable 
with the meadow brown and wall butterflies. 

To enable you to make a successful collection it 
will be necessary for you to know something about 
the life history of the insects you intend collecting. 
Some people think that little flies grow into big flies, 
and small butterflies grow into large butterflies, but 
this is a mistake which we shall very soon find out. 
Butterflies and moths do not do much in the “ growing 
line ” ; the only parts that seem to grow, if you watch 
them hatching from the pupse, are their wings, and 
these are fully developed in a few hours. All their 
growing is done when they are in the caterpillar stage. 

There are four different stages in the life of either 
a butterfly or a moth, and these are generally spoken 
of as (1) the ova (eggs), (2) larvae (caterpillars), (3) 
pupse (cocoons or chrysalis), and (4) the imago (the 

265 


266 The Boy’s Workshop 

perfect insect). They only eat during the larvae 
stage, and it will be found that they can consume a 
considerable quantity of food whilst in this period of 
their lives; moreover, the caterpillars of different 
varieties of butterflies and moths live on different 
kinds of food, some of them being very particular 
and refusing any kind of food but the leaves of the 
particular tree or plant that they have been used 
to from generation to generation. 

The first things required when starting a collec¬ 
tion are a net, some collecting boxes and suitable pins. 
The best and most practical net, though it is inex¬ 
pensive, is a hoop fastened to the end of a stick with 
the net attached to the hoop. 

The hoop is made of four pieces of cane joined, 
with three hinged joints with sliding tubes to keep 
them rigid, the remaining two ends of the canes 
having square brass ends (see Fig. 1). b b are the 
sliding tubes over the joint; c is a larger section show¬ 
ing the joint, a is the square end. The four pieces 
of cane are each 12 inches long, and form a loop to 
hold the net, and it is, when fixed up, about 16 inches 
from top to bottom and 13 inches wide. The two 
ends a fit into the two small ends (see Fig. 2), 
which are square and made to fit firmly, so that they 
do not slip out. The long end of the Y is a circular 
tube which slides on to the end of an oak walking- 
stick, which should be one with a natural knob at the 
end and not a curved handle. 

The net should be made of mosquito netting, and 
be about 30 inches deep, rounded at the bottom ; 
square or pointed nets should be shunned. 

New nets should be soaked in water for a time to 






Miscellaneous 


267 


get the stiffening out of them. The top of the net 
which is attached to the loop should have a broad 
band of linen, about lj or 2 inches wide, sewn to it 
(Fig. 3). This slides on to the cane loop, otherwise 
if the top part of the net is used on the loop it will 
very soon wear out. Fig. 4 shows the net ready for 
work. 

The pocket collecting-box (Fig .5) is lined with 
cork on the top and 
the bottom, the lid 
being hinged, and 
fitting securely ; the 
piece of wood shown 
fitted inside the bot¬ 
tom of the box along 
the front keeps the 
box shut. A pair of 
entomological tweez¬ 
ers, Fig. 6, will be 
found very useful, 
and can be purchased 
from a dealer in 
naturalist’s appara¬ 
tus for a small sum. 

You will also require some entomological pins 
of two or three different sizes, which are sold by the 
ounce 5 each size has a different number, and the pins 
can be purchased at the same place as the tweezers. 
The pins are of a finer make and have smaller heads 
than the ordinary pins. 

At the same time it will be as well to invest in 
some setting boards (Fig. 7), which are made in dif¬ 
ferent widths to suit the size of the insect we intend 



Figs. 1 and 2.- The Hoop of the Net 














268 The Boy’s Workshop 

to set out , but are all made the some length, viz. 14 
inches, so that they conveniently fit into the drying 
case. Three or four of different widths will do to 
start with. The setting boards are made of a layer 
of cork mounted on a strip of wood ; the top is curved, 
saddle-shaped, with a groove running along the centre 
to allow for the body of the insect. It will be found 
that it is cheaper to buy these than to make them. 

You will also require one or two setting needles 
and some straps. The setting needles are made by 
forcing a needle, with pliers, into the wooden handle 
of a small penholder. The needle is taken up by 
the pliers and the eye is pressed into the wooden 
handle about one-third of its length. It will be as 
well to make two or three of these w r ith different 
sized needles. 

The straps are made from a piece of stout note- 
paper or thin card. A thin quality post-card is best 
to work with, as one is less apt to knock off any of the 
scales on the wings than if a stouter card is used. 
The straps should be cut about three inches long, 
varying in width from -J- to J of an inch. 

A few chip boxes will also be found very handy. 
These are the shape of pill boxes, and are made of 
very thin wood, in different sizes ; they are usually 
sold nested, four sizes, one inside the other. 

There are several ways of killing the insects 
caught. With most of the butterflies the best way 
is to pinch it sharply on the thorax, the central part 
of the body containing the wings and legs, with the 
thumb and first finger. This will instantly kill most 
of the butterflies and many of the moths. With some 
of the latter I find it better to box them in one of the 







Miscellaneous 269 

chip boxes, and if a specimen be a noisy one, I paint 
the inside of the lid with some benzine, which will 
stupefy the insect. The box can then be reopened 
and a few drops of benzine dropped on the body and 
head of the insect, which will kill it. 

Some entomologists use killing beetles, containing 
a mixture of cyanide of potassium and plaster of 
paris, but in the first place this is very dangerous to 
have, as it is a deadly poison, and secondly, it does 
not retain its power 
for very long. 

Another method 
is to bruise some 
laurel leaves and 
place them in a box, 
the fumes given off 
these being poisonous 
(containing prussic 
acid) will kill the 
insects put into the 
box, but each time 
the lid is removed a 
certain quantity of 
the fumes escape, and therefore the power is soon 
lost. If this method is adopted it will be found best 
to use the young leaves of the laurel and place them, 
when bruised, in a little muslin bag, which is put into 
the killing box ; in this way the insect is kept off and 
separate from the pieces of bruised leaves, and there¬ 
fore does not get wet, which it otherwise would if 
placed amongst the bruised leaves. It must be borne 
in mind that it is necessary to replace continually the 
stock of bruised leaves with a fresh supply. 



Figs. 3 and 4.—The Net 









270 The Boy’s Workshop 

Before leaving home see that you have got all 
the parts of the net, the pocket collecting-box, some 
pins of medium size, say No. 5, a few chip boxes and 
a small bottle of benzine, with a small camel hair 
brush. If this is fastened to the cork (in the end 
that goes into the bottle), it will be found handier 
and less likely to be lost. 

On arrival at your collecting ground, fix up your 
net and see that all the empty chip boxes are in one 
pocket, and each time you use a chip box to put an 
insect in, place it into a different pocket or a satchel. 
This will prevent you opening a chip box which you 
thought empty, but which contains a specimen that 
will most likely make its escape. 

The net is best carried about chest high, and not 
waving above your head like a flag to warn and 
frighten all the insects away! When you have 
“ spotted ” a specimen, don’t make a wild rush at it, 
which will probably result in a “ miss ” of the insect 
and a “ catch ” of the net in a thistle or brier ; walk 
quietly but quickly towards the insect, then give a 
swift sweep with the net (approaching from behind 
the insect), followed by a sharp turn of the wrist, 
which makes the net fall close on the side of the ring, 
and thus closes the net and prevents the insect from 
escaping. Keeping the net closed, look at the insect 
through the meshes to ascertain if you want it or not. 
If you want it, carefully catch hold of the butterfly 
by the thorax with your thumb and finger (from the 
outside of the net), keeping the wings closed upwards, 
and give it a sharp pinch. If properly done, this will 
instantly kill the insect without damaging it. You 
can then take out the specimen and place it on its 






Miscellaneous 271 


side in your collecting box. Stick a pin through the 
side of its thorax and pin it up in a corner at the bottom 
of the box, and proceed in the same manner with the 
next specimen caught. Be sure each one is firmly 
pinned in, otherwise if one gets loose while in the 
pocket it will shake about and spoil many of the others. 

Now as to the setting. This should be done as 
soon as possible before the insects become stiff. The 
evening of the day they are caught is best. Should it 
not be possible to set them for a day or two, when, of 
course, they will be stiff, they can be easily relaxed by 
placing them in the relaxing box for a day or two. 
This box consists of a zinc receptacle with a tight- 
fitting lid, having a layer of cork at the bottom, which 
is made wet. Damp sand is sometimes used instead 
of the cork. The insects are placed upon this and 
the lid is closed. It will be necessary, however, to 
examine them occasionally, and set them as soon as 
they are limp. If they are not relaxed enough the 
wings may break, and 
if left too long they 
will most likely be 
mouldy and spoilt. 

Place the setting 
boards, setting needles, 
tweezers, pins, straps 
and collecting-box on 
the table conveniently 
at hand. Take, with 
the tweezers, one of 
the specimens from 
the collecting - box. 

Holding it still with 






Figs. 5 and 6.—Collecting Box and 
Tweezers 













272 


The Boy’s Workshop 


the tweezers by the pin in the right hand, used 
to keep the insect in the collecting-box, take the 
butterfly very lightly between the thumb and fore¬ 
finger of the left hand by the thorax. Keep the wings 
pointing upwards, and withdraw the pin, then select 
a setting pin of suitable size and pass it through the 
top of the thorax in the centre, keeping the pin slop¬ 
ing slightly towards the head. The pin should come 
through underneath about ^ inch. When you have 
done this, slightly press the pin into the groove of 
the setting board, so that the insect’s body rests 
nicely in the groove. Taking one of the setting needles 
arrange the legs, and then, in the case of a butterfly 
whose wings will be upright, gently turn over with 
the needle, the wings on one side, towards the curved 
side of the setting board, place a strap across them, 
and fasten it by pinning the top into the setting board. 
With the setting needle arrange these two wings, 
and then fix by pinning the lower end of the strap to 
the setting board. Repeat these operations with 
the two wings on the other side, but be sure to get 

both wings on each 
side at the same angle 
and the same amount 
exposed to view of 
each. 

One pair of straps in 
many cases will be suffi¬ 
cient, but occasionally 
you may find it neces¬ 
sary (with some speci¬ 
mens) to use two pair, as 
Fig. 7.—Setting Board shown in the illustration 











Miscellaneous 


273 


(Fig. 7) of a 
brimstone but¬ 
terfly set ready 
for drying. 

The antennse 
(like horns) 
should b e ar¬ 
ranged in some¬ 
thing like a V 
for position (the 
antennae of but¬ 
terflies have a 
thickened, or 
clubbed, tip, 
whereas the antennae of moths are never clubbed at 
the tip. They will usually keep in this position, but 
if not, a pin, or pins, should be stuck in the setting 
board beside them, to keep them in the right position. 
You must be very careful when removing these pins 
not to knock the antennae, as when they are dry, they 

are very easily broken off. 

On one of the straps mark the date when you set 
them; you will then be able to tell how long they have 
been on the board. Always keep notes on the locality 
where you capture your different specimens and the 
date of capture. It will make your collection much 

more valuable. 

The time an insect takes to set properly varies 
according to the temperature. The larger insects, 
especially some of the moths, require a far longer 
time than others. Remember, it is much better to 
leave them on the setting board longer than necessary, 
than to take them off a little too soon. If not 



R 



























274 The Boy’s Workshop 

left long enough you will find, on looking at the 
specimen in the store box, after a day or so, 
that the wings have “ sprung,” that is, moved out 
of the position you set them in and come closer 
together. 

In addition to the above preparations for preserv¬ 
ing insects, it will be necessary to remove the contents 
of the bodies of the larger moths. This can be done 
in two ways. One way is to cut a long slit along the 
underside of the body and extract the contents, the 
empty case then being filled with cotton wool, in¬ 
serted with the end of a bodkin or steel knitting 
needle, and carefully modelled to its natural shape. 
The second way is to cut the abdomen off where it 
joins the thorax. The little hole in the abdomen, 
seen where it joined the thorax, is made larger, and 
all the contents are extracted through this hole. 
Cotton wool is then inserted through the hole and the 
abdomen modelled to its natural shape. When quite 
dry it is joined to the thorax again with a little 
marine glue. 

Having finished setting your specimens, the next 
procedure will be to put them in a drying case. This 
is a kind of cupboard, as shown in the illustration 
(Fig. 8). The top and sides are made of wood and 
the back of perforated zinc ; the door is a frame 
covered with perforated zinc, which allows the air 
to circulate through the case, and is fitted with 
hinges. This case keeps the dust from specimens, 
besides saving them lrom being damaged, and they 
are out of the way. 

Fig. 8 is drawn from a drying case which I have 
had in use for many years. It is made of i-in. wood, 





Miscellaneous 275 

with the exception of the shelves, which are J-in. 
thick. The dimensions are 18 in. high, 13| in. wide 
and 14| in. deep. The shelves are 14J in. deep, and 
take the setting boards nicely. At the bottom I 
have a drawer, which is handy for keeping the straps, 
pins, setting needles, tweezers, etc., in. I have a 
fastening to the door, and as the door comes over 
the drawer, every part is closed with one fastening. 

This case should be kept in a dry place, and where 
it will not be necessary to move it. A case of this 
kind will be found very useful, and will hold quite a 
lot of specimens. 

When the insects are thoroughly set (and it is 
best for them to dry slowly), we shall require some 
store boxes to put them in. These are made in the 
same manner as the pocket collecting-box, but are 
larger. A useful size is 12^ in. by 10 in. When 
once you have decided on the size, always get them 
the same size, because you will find this handier to 
add to your stock, and the boxes look better on your 
shelf than if they are different sizes. They should 
be numbered or lettered on the edge exposed to 
view, which will make it easier for reference. 

Another good way of adding specimens of moths 
to your collection is by “ treacling.” This is an 
old plan of catching moths by placing a “ bait,” 
which will entice moths and so enable you to catch 
them. Very many fine specimens can be caught this 
way. The treacle mixture is made of 1 lb. of green 
treacle. This is dark and thick, and the ordinary 
fine treacle known as golden syrup is far too thin 
and watery. You want something with a “ body ” 
to it ! To this you must add a mixture of 2 oz. of 








276 


The Boy’s Workshop 



stale beer, lj oz. of rum 
and fifteen drops of oil 
of aniseed. This, after 
being well shaken to mix 
thoroughly, should be 
added to the treacle, and 
well mixed by stirring and 
shaking. The mixture 
should be kept in a well 
corked jar or bottle. 

A very useful treacle 
bottle, made of zinc, for 
use out of doors, is shown 
in Fig. 9. This can be 
carried on the belt, and 
has the brush fastened to 
the inside of the lid, ready 
for use ; it is well worth 
the money invested in buying one. If, however, one 
cannot be obtained easily, a wide-mouthed bottle, 
with a piece of string tied round the neck for a 
handle, and a round paint brush, will answer the 
purpose, though, of course, this is not so compact or 
convenient as the zinc bottle, the lid of which screws 
on and is practically air-tight, and therefore pre¬ 
serves the strength of the mixture. 

You will also require a small lantern—a bicycle 
lamp answers very well if kept clean—and some of 
the nested chip boxes and your net. 

It is as well to find out a good locality where you 
can try your “ treacling ” beforehand, so that when 
a suitable evening comes you can go direct to the 
place and commence operations. A dark, warm night 


Fig. 9.—A Treacle Bottle 




















Miscellaneous 277 

is the best, and a clear moonlight night is the worst; 
it is practically useless to go on such a night. The 
best time to start operations is just about dusk. 

The mixture should be painted on the trunks of 
the trees, about five feet from the ground, so as to 
be at a convenient height for examination. A space 
about 8 in. deep and 4 in. wide should be covered 
on each tree, the trees thus treated being some little 
distance apart. By 
the time you have done 
a sufficient number of 
them it will be time to 
light the lamp and go 
and examine the first 
tree you painted. If 
there are any moths 
drinking the mixture 
these should be care¬ 
fully placed in one of 
the chip boxes of suit¬ 
able size, using a chip 
box for each specimen. 

Fig. 10 is an illustration of a breeding cage for 
butterflies and moths. The caterpillars are kept in 
the top compartment containing some of the right 
food plant, which is kept fresh by the stalks passing 
through holes in the floors into a jar containing 
water. Pieces of cotton wool should be put in the 
holes where the stalks go through the floor to pre¬ 
vent any of the caterpillars escaping. The two sides 
and the top, marked AAA, are made of fine per¬ 
forated zinc. The back and front are of glass, the 
front piece of glass being in grooves. 



















MINIATURE FIREWORKS 


. \ VERY pretty display of indoor fireworks may 
be arranged with a few simple materials. 
For the purpose there will be required some tinfoil, 
such as chocolates or cigarettes are wrapped in, and 
a blow-pipe of some kind. Here a bent glass tube, 
drawn to a fine point, would answer the purpose 
well, or even a clay pipe. The other requisite is a 
lighted candle. To get the fireworks, proceed in 
this way :— 

Cut the tinfoil into strips and hold one of these at 
the side of the flame. Then blow briskly down the 
pipe, and when the flame reaches the metal it takes 
fire, melts, and drops in a marvellous stream of 
bright globules. These bounce about in all directions 
in a most surprising manner, and in a dark room 
look very fine. There is not the slightest danger of 
fire in this experiment, for almost as soon as the 
globules are formed they become covered with oxide 
of tin, and in the end they leave a little white ash, 
which is easily brushed away. 

This experiment is also a very interesting scientific 
experiment. It is a demonstration of the fact that 
metals combined with oxygen form metallic oxides. 
Supposing anyone should take pains to gather every 
scrap of the ashes which come from the burning of 
the tinfoil, they would be found to be actually a little 
heavier than the original piece of tinfoil. This is 
because, during combustion, the tinfoil has combined 
with some of the oxygen of the air. 

278 


HOW TO FILL A HYDROGEN BALLOON 


T HE ordinary rubber balloon that you can buy in 
the streets is not very interesting. It is only 
a child’s toy, and all you can do with it is to knock it 
about until it bursts. It can, however, be made into 
a real balloon that will ascend into the air, and the 
change can be effected very easily. 

The simplest way, if you have gas laid on in your 
house, is to fill the rubber bladder with ordinary coal- 
gas. Now you would think that all you have to do 
is just to put the neck of the rubber balloon over the 
gas jet and turn on the tap. Try it and you will 
soon find out that the pressure in the gas main is not 
strong enough to expand the rubber. You cannot 
get enough gas into the bladder by this means to 
raise it from the ground. You must fill your 
balloon another way. 

The necessary apparatus can be found in almost 
any house. All you have to buy is a length of rubber 
tubing and a foot or so of glass tubing. Perhaps 
you have this already. 

You need a shallow tub of some kind. A wash- 
tub or one of those iron things they wash the crockery 
in will be just the thing. Then you need a flower¬ 
pot, not too big, with a piece about an inch square 
chipped out of the rim. Next you need a bottle or so, 
the biggest you can get hold of. If you have a fair 
length of rubber tube you do not need the glass 
tube yet. 

Now you can get along. Put the flower-pot 

279 


280 The Boy’s Workshop 

upside down in 
the bottom of the 
wash-tub, so that 
the drainage hole 
is uppermost. 
Then fill the ’wash- 
tub with water 
so that the flower¬ 
pot is a couple of inches below the surface. Fix 
your tube to a convenient gas-jet, and lead the free 
end through the hole in the rim of the flower-pot 
and out through the drainage hole. Fig. 1 will show 
you exactly how to do this. 

Next fill one of your bottles full, right full, of 
water, and invert it on top of the flower-pot so that 
not a bubble of air gets in. Now, if you turn 
on the gas tap the gas will rush through the 
rubber tube and bubble up into the bottle and 
drive all the water out. Now you have a bottle 
full of gas. 

Next you want a cork fitted with two glass or 
metal tubes as shown in Fig. 2. One must come down 
to the bottom of the bottle when the cork is in place. 
Connect up your balloon to the shorter of the two 
tubes and connect up the longer tube to the water- 
tap. Now if you turn on the water-tap the gas will 
be driven out by the pressure of the water and forced 
into the balloon with sufficient strength to distend 
the rubber. If you cannot connect with the water- 
tap you can blow through the long tube, but this is 
not very satisfactory. 

Before you start you should have several bottles 
full of gas ready. You will probably have one or 





















Miscellaneous 281 

two failures, but will soon find out exactly how to 
do the trick. 

If you prefer to fill your balloon with pure hydro¬ 
gen you can make it in the ordinary way by letting 
sulphuric acid act on zinc clippings in a bottle with 
a bent glass tube coming from the cork. Collect the 
hydrogen gas just as you have collected the coal-gas 
in the bottle. 

Hydrogen or gas-filled balloons can be sent up 
with stamped addressed postcards tied to them 
asking the finders to drop the cards in the letter-box, 
saying where they found them. It is great fun. 













USEFUL HINTS 


DOING WITHOUT A PLUMBER 

LUSHING tanks are a source of worry and 
expense to anybody who does not understand 
them. They are continually going wrong, and when 
a plumber is called in he charges half a crown for 
looking at it, and five shillings to do the job—when 
he feels inclined. In the great majority of these 
cases the matter could be put right in a few seconds, 
and if you look at the sketch you will see how. The 
water enters the tank through a valve, to which is 
attached a thin rod of iron, at the end of which is a 
ball. When the tank is empty the ball is lowered 
and the valve is opened. As the water comes in, 
the ball is lifted until at a certain level the valve is 
automatically closed. Very well. Supposing the 
tank overflows, it follows that the valve is not closed 
soon enough. The remedy is to bend downwards, 
very slightly, the rod supporting the ball. Or it may 
happen that the valve is closed before sufficient 
water has been admitted, and then, of course, the 
rod would have to be bent upwards. These adjust¬ 
ments are bound to become necessary at some time 
or other, owing to the rust set up by the action of the 
water. For the same reason the valve may become 
choked, in which case it can, as a rule, be cleared by 

wriggling it between the thumb and 
finger to dislodge the obstruction, and 
then opening the valve to its fullest 
extent to wash it away. 

282 







Miscellaneous 283 

CUTTING BOOKS FOR HOME BOOKBINDING 

For those who like to bind their 
own books, a handy way of getting 
the edges neat is to cut a rect¬ 
angular piece of cardboard the size 
the finished pages are to be, or, 
better still, a piece of thin metal, 
and use this as a guide for marking the edges of all 
the sections with pencil. They are then cut carefully 
with small sharp scissors, keeping closely to the lines. 
When sewn up and bound a very decent effect is 
obtained, though, of course, not so even as when done 
by the bookbinder. 

PUTTING UP A BRASS KNOCKER 

It is often desired to replace an ugly black-var¬ 
nished knocker by a brass one. This is readily done 
by unscrewing the nuts at the back of the door. 
If possible, a brass knocker should be chosen having 
the bolts for the nuts at the same distance apart as 
the old one, otherwise a fresh hole will have to be made 
in the door. A brass door-knob can be put on in a 
similar way. 

BROKEN TEAPOT HANDLE 

Most people when they knock the handle off 

a jug or teapot, throw the 
article away, but it can be 
repaired in this way : Take a 
small quantity of liquid glue 
and thoroughly mix with an 
equal amount of plaster of 
Paris. Glue the parts together 





















284 The Boy’s Workshop 

and allow to get hard. Then in a piece of half-inch 
tape, make a series of quarter-inch cuts from one 
edge, so as to allow it to fold nicely round a curve. 
Smear this well with the compound and bind tightly 
round the joints. After a day or two the jug or 
teapot will again be ready for service. 


SECURING A DOOR 

A door may be locked but in¬ 
securely fastened, which is a very 
well-known fact to the imps of the 
night who break into houses and steal. 
The weakest part of a lock is usually 
the hasp (the box into which the bolt 
is shot), but this can be strengthened 
by the addition of a stout iron bracket, 
which can be hammered into shape by 
the simple process of first making it red hot. The 
manner of fixing the bracket is shown above. 


(ft 





(• 

ejl 


« 

I 

7 N ^ s o 

) 


TO ERECT A CLOTHES POST 

To erect a clothes post firmly is a simple matter. 
To sink a pole a few inches into the ground is to 
invite disaster. The post should be at least three 
feet in the ground, and strengthened by a tenoned 
brace at its base, fixed on the side from which the 
strain will come. 


A PAPERHANGER’S DODGE 
Nothing looks worse than grease stains on wall¬ 
paper, and it is often a mystery to people how 
they get there. 


















Miscellaneous 285 

That they do sometimes make their appearance 
may be taken for granted, and it will pay you to 
remember this trick of the trade to remove them. 
All you have to do is to take a little pipe-clay and 
mix it with water to the consistency of a cream, and 
lay it over the spot. 

The following day, when the pipe-clay is quite 
hard, it can be easily removed by a penknife or brush, 
when it will be found that the offending grease has 
disappeared. A knowledge of this method will help 
you to keep your treasured books clean even although 
you may have foolishly lent them to careless 
friends. 


SPREAD IT LIKE JAM 

There are more people living in their own houses 
to-day than ever before, and the man or boy who 
is “ handy ” possesses a distinct advantage over a 
neighbour who is not. Many of you will appreciate 
this without telling, and it is probable, too, that many 
of you are adept at little jobs indoors. But when it 
comes to repairing a roof or gutter, nine people out 
of ten will send for a builder. If that has been the 
experience in your home, you will know that nowa¬ 
days slates and tiles, and even zinc, are expensive 
commodities, and a roof job might easily run into 
£20 or £30. 

You cannot expect a builder to tell you that 
you could make the roof weatherproof for a few shil¬ 
lings, because that would be sacrificing his living; but 
it doesn’t alter the fact that it can be done. On 
the market there are a number of compounds of a 
plastic nature which can be applied in any weather, 







286 


The Boy’s Workshop 


and if necessary even under water, the effect of which 
would be not only to stop a local leakage, but if laid 
on evenly all over the roof would considerably 
lengthen the life of the slates or zinc, or whatever 


may be under- 
of people will 
a zinc roof, but 
builder will tell 
worst thing 



neath. A lot 
tell you to tar 
any honest 
you it is the 
you could do. 



















SILVER BOTTLES 


S OME of the prettiest things you can have are 
silvered bottles. These are glass flasks or 
bottles coated inside with silvery solution so that 
they resemble mirrors outside. In this way they 
reflect objects of all kinds, and bright lights as well. 
Here is the way in which to prepare a silver bottle. 

First of all dissolve about a teaspoonful of tartaric 
acid in a cupful of water. Then add a little ammonia, 
stirring the whole thing well until the solution smells 
quite strongly of the ammonia. Shake in a little of 
the chemical known as chloride of calcium, and put 
the mixture in a pot to warm slightly over a stove. 
Stir now and again, and, after a while, a precipitate 
will sink to the bottom which is of granular nature. 
If the formation of this is delayed add more chloride 
of calcium. The precipitate is really tartrate of 
calcium. 

Put the tartrate of calcium you have secured 
into another vessel and wash well with water. Then 
take your flask or bottle. This should be quite clean 
and, if it is of a round shape like an olive oil flask, so 
much the better. Put the tartrate of calcium in a 
wet state into the flask, and then add two or three 
drops of ammonia and a crystal of solid nitrate of 
silver a little larger than a pea. 

Now hold the flask over a flame, moving it about 
so that it is gently warmed. In this way the chemicals 
inside will flow over the whole of the interior. When 
the temperature rises to a certain point the decom- 

287 


288 The Boy’s Workshop 

position of the chemicals takes place, and the whole 
of the inside of the bottle is coated with a film of the 
brightest silver. 

Allow the flask to cool down and then carefully 
rinse the interior with cold water. Put it mouth 
downwards in a warm room, so that all liquid can 
drain away. Then a good-fitting cork should be put 
into the flask and the top coated with sealing-wax. 
It is important to make the stopper air-tight. When 
the air is quite excluded the silvered bottle will last 
for years. It will be a very beautiful object indeed, 
and one that anyone would like to own. 

If at the first attempt you do not succeed very 
well in silvering the bottle, you may wish to clear 
the coating away so as to repeat the process. This 
is quite easy to do. Put a teaspoonful of dilute 
nitric acid into the flask and slightly warm it. Turn 
the flask about so that the acid comes into contact 
with every part of the bottle. The film of silver will 
be removed, and, after rinsing with water, the bottle 
will be ready for another trial. 


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F50.822 









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Treatment Date: June 2012 

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